Banff Film Fest stink-up

[Bogen]

 

Are you suggesting that Bertulis owns the rights to the film?

 

I have no idea who owns the rights to the film. Most likely Alex Bertulis had every right to do what he did, and it seems he made every effort to act in good faith. I haven't been able to find a source for this film, and find it believable that Bertulis was, or at least believed he was, in possession of the sole copy. 10 000 dollars in the film restoration biz doesn't get you much - the film would certainly need work. Hell, Alex probably felt, understandably, that he had an obligation to Surdel, as well as the rest of us, to rescue this film from being lost entirely. I think he is to be commended.

[Bogen]

Just read that last post by Glassgowkiss. Pretty convincing - I just took issue with this because it seemed obvious to me that Bertulis wasn't doing this in his own self interest, and that he was getting shit on for it. Somebody phone Alex.

[Rad]

Went to see the BMFF tonight and was interested to see how they handled it there. Here's what went down.

 

1 - No mention of any possible controversy by the BMFF host.

2 - The movie was introduced as by Surdel, and there was no mention of Bertulis.

3 - The film ran, and we were reminded that it won the overall award.

4 - It was stated that Surdel won the award.

5 - Only AFTER the film was over did the host thank Bertulis for his generous restoration efforts.

 

Seems like the BMFF is heading toward the right track, albeit without any acknowledgment of wrongdoing. Their lawyers may advise against that.

 

IMHO award $ should go to Surdel, who, if he is any sort of gentleman, should give something ($ or a lot of polish ) to Bertulis for his efforts.

 

Lastly, though I liked the film I wouldn't have voted it #1. Dude walks straight into an open crevasse and guess what? He falls in...

[glassgowkiss]

I promised to update the information as I get it. I took your advice and called Bertulis and talked to him for about 25 minutes.

He was made aware of this movie after the success of the film in Trento (Italy) in 1969. Lito Tejada-Flores (do not know if I did get the name just right- my apologies if not) was a fellow who told him about the movie. In the spring of 1981 Bertulis went to Poland. There he went to Film Polski (at that time Polish distribution company) in Warszawa. He purchased North American distribution rights to the movie. He believed at the time that he purchased the only existing copy of “Odwrot”. He was also supposedly told that the director of the movie was dead. This fact I have very hard time to believe, since at that time Surdel was still very active as a director. Just 4 years earlier he made a movie about winter Lhotse Expedition. I also checked on Google, that Surdel’s name was mentioned with movies made in the 90’s from the Polar Expeditions by Polish explorer Kaminski.

After the copy was brought to the US, it was shown by Bertulis several times, like in Telluride in 1982.

He also stated that Banff Mountain Film Festival approached him to show the movie.

Among the most important things he said were a couple of facts. First of all he admitted he learned about Surdel (being alive) the same day he flew into Calgary. Apparently he tried to contact him through Jozef Nyka. I do not understand why he did not try to find email to Surdel at that time or even a phone number.

Second he also was claiming he was in contact with Jerzy Surdel, but I have copies of his correspondence (last entry December 1, 2004) and there is no mention of this fact.

I had a lot of problems with his story. Some of the little details did not add up.

The fact of the matter is Alex Bertulis did not own the rights to the movie, hence he did not have the right to accept the prize for it. A lot of actions were done upon assumption, without checking facts. BMFF did fail in the due diligence work.

[Rad]

GGK,

You are contradicting yourself.

 

There he went to Film Polski (at that time Polish distribution company) in Warszawa. He purchased North American distribution rights to the movie.

 

The fact of the matter is Alex Bertulis did not own the rights to the movie

[JayB]

Good job on calling Mr. Bertulius to speak with him directly.

[glassgowkiss]

Rad, i am not contradicting myself. Just because someone bought right to show a movie somewhere doesn't mean he should be getting credit for it. Surdel is till the owner to the copy rights. the situation is like this. imagine that i buy star wars for distribution in poland from lucas films. 20 years later i submitt this film to some film festival, like the one in Lodz. film wins first prize. now i pocket the ca$h and the award. wrong! this film still belongs to lucas films, i had rights to show it in movie theaters- that's all. anyway- he had no right to submitt the movie in the first place, since the rules of the festival states clear, that only the legal owner can submitt the entry.

[Rad]

I do commend you for calling Bertulis directly.

 

1 - It sounds like Bertulis had distriubution rights that he could transfer to BMFF so they could charge $ for the film. No laws rights are trammeled until they go outside North America (assuming your fact-checking is correct).

 

2 - BMFF, or any other organization, can give out prizes to anyone at any time for anything it wants. We could have a prize for the most slideshow at sausagefest and give the prize to for flicks. And yes, you could win for star wars. It may not be ethical, but legal and ethical do not always jibe. Examples include the lovely partisan legislation we're likely to see passed in DC in the next 4 years.

 

3 - I hear there's a plot to upload all your lovely photos on CC, photoshop them into oblivion, and enter them into the upcoming sausagefest slideshow competition. Better get them off to the copyright office, and quick!

 

Lastly, lawyer language for insomniacs:

 

http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ15t.html

 

http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ45.html

 

Court adjourned.

[glassgowkiss]

Rad, I just received a copy of 2 email from Surdel himself. Film Polski doen't have a copy of the sale, but that might not be a big factor, since they keep the records for 10 years. There is a reason for it. The standard contract for distribution rights is usually 5 or 10 years maximum. So in that case his rights to showing the movie expired long, long time ago- at least from 1991. Second distribution rights do not cover screenings of the movie at festivals without author's conscent.

your links in this case are useless. Film is a property of a Polish citizen and was illegaly shown in Canada. So why would we apply US copyright laws in this situation.

this reminds me of the situation, where some Jews from NYC tried to sue Polish govenment (and current private property owners) in federal court in NY, the claimed property is in Poland. last time i cheked US did not have any jurisdition in europe or canada.

The finale of this situation is that Alex Bertulis made a huge mistake, tried to create a phony story to cover it up and doesn't even have enough balls to admit it. court adjurned

Edited December 3, 2004 by glassgowkiss

[Bill_Simpkins]

Good investigative work!

[Rad]

GGK,

 

Nice to see you're motivated to find out the facts. BTW, what IS your motivation here? What next? Are you going to write BMFF and disclose your fact list? If they really don't have distribution rights they should know asap and get them or pull the film from the tour. Are you planning to call Bertulis and confront him? What would you hope to gain by that?

 

More importantly, what does Surdel want out of all this?

[EWolfe]

Good investigative work!

 

Don't shit where you sleep!

[glassgowkiss]

Rad, my motivation is that is sucks when you see your fellow climbers and coutrymen getting a shaft. at this time i think i did enough. i am in a process of farwarding this info to others, who can write better and can spend their time looking into this matter. as far as Surdel goes- he can speak for himself. i just think this whole situation stinks and if it was mis-handled in a major way.

[Jason_Martin]

Media Release -- The Banff Centre

 

 

Polish film director awarded Banff Mountain Film Festival Grand Prize

 

The 36-year story of the Polish film Odwrót, winner of the Grand Prize at the 2004 Banff Mountain Film Festival, takes a new turn as The Banff Centre's Mountain Culture division has awarded the $4,000 (Cdn) prize money to Odwrót director, Jerzy Surdel.

 

Originally entered in the 2004 Festival competition by Alex Bertulis of Seattle, the film was made in 1968 by Surdel at the National College of Theatre and Film in Lódz, Poland, and filmed in black and white in the Tatra Mountains. In submitting the film into competition, Bertulis guaranteed that he owned all right, title and interest to Odwrót, including copyright, intellectual, and distribution rights. He had obtained what he believed was the sole copy of the film in the late 1960s, and had recently restored the film with the intent of exposing it to a wider audience. Though he has always acknowledged the work of the original team of Polish filmmakers, he was not in contact with them.

 

After the Grand Prize was announced at the close of the 2004 Banff Mountain Film Festival on November 7, Surdel was surprised to receive congratulations from friends. He contacted Festival organizers, who have since sent him

the $4,000 prize. It is the normal policy of the Banff Mountain Film Festival to award prize money to directors.

 

Mountain Culture at The Banff Centre and the Banff Mountain Film Festival stand behind the choice of Odwrót as 2004 Grand Prize winner, and appreciate the opportunity to bring this beautifully shot and emotional film to a wider public. It follows a climber's desperate retreat to find help for his injured partner. "Impeccable directing and editing create a film of poetic ambiguity," said film festival jury member Liam Lacey. The Festival is in discussion with both Surdel and Bertulis to determine who holds current rights to Odwrót, with the intention of including the film on the 2004 - 2005 Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour.

[Bogen]

Perfect!

[Rad]

Their karma ran over their dogma.

Spike Lee would be proud.