Japan cinemas to screen dolphin hunt film

Japanese cinemas will start showing “The Cove,” an Oscar-winning film about a dolphin-hunting village, next month despite pressure from right-wing nationalist groups who claim it is anti-Japanese.

Distributor Unplugged said that starting July 3, six cinemas around the country will start showing the movie, with 16 more to screen it later.

Initial screenings of the film at three others were cancelled after protests by nationalist groups. They still have no plans to show “The Cove,” which won the Oscar for best documentary.

The cancellations prompted a group of Japanese journalists, academics and film directors to urge the cinemas not to back down, saying the issue "underlines the weakness of freedom of speech in Japan".

Nationalist groups, known for blasting slogans from truck convoys and handheld loudspeakers, often use the threat of protests as leverage. Two years ago, angry phone calls led several cinemas to cancel showings of “Yasukuni,” a movie about a Japanese war shrine that honours fallen soldiers, including executed military leaders convicted as war criminals.

The film, which stars Ric O’Barry, a former trainer for the “Flipper” TV show, was banned on a US military base in Japan as too controversial.

In Taiji, the small village where the hunt occurs, the local government and fishing co-operative defend dolphin hunting as a local custom with a long history. The mostly bottlenose dolphins killed in the hunt are not endangered, and hunts are also carried out in other parts of Japan – although very few Japanese have ever eaten dolphin meat.

In the version of “The Cove” intended for release in Japan, disclaimers have been added saying those interviewed in the movie are not protesting or supporting dolphin issues. Unlike the US version, the faces of most Japanese are blurred out.

A message on the Japanese version states that data presented in the movie were gathered by and are the responsibility of the film’s creators. The movie cites information about mercury levels in dolphins and falsely labelled dolphin meat that has been challenged by government officials.