Aretha Franklin Wins Restraining Order Against Telluride Film Festival
DENVER (CBS4)- Aretha Franklin won a restraining order against the Telluride Film Festival in federal court in Denver on Friday afternoon.
Franklin was seeking the order to keep the documentary "Amazing Grace" from being shown at the film festival.
Franklin's attorney said the concert footage was taken with the understanding that it would not be used commercially without Franklin's consent.
She was upset over the content of the film which shows some of her concert footage made at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles in 1972.
The music went on to become a double platinum best selling album.
The film by director Sydney Pollack wasn't released and the footage sat for many years.
In 2007, a man named Allan Elliot got a hold of the film from Warner Bros. which explicitly stated the film could not be shown without Franklin's permission. Earlier this week Franklin learned it was on the program of the Telluride Film Festival.
The restraining order blocked Friday night's screening at the film festival.
Franklin was not in Denver on Friday, instead her appearance in court was conducted via telephone. Her attorney, who was in court, asked that the showing be blocked because Franklin said others wanted to use her name and likeness for their profit.
Franklin says in a statement issued Saturday: "Justice, respect and what is right prevailed and one's right to own their own self-image."
A trailer of the documentary was available on YouTube.
In the complaint, Franklin claims that allowing the film to be shown would violate her intellectual property rights among others.
The attorney for the film festival argued that a contract Franklin signed in the late 1960s was adequate permission but Franklin told the court on Friday that permission was for audio recordings not for a film.
In giving his ruling in favor of the temporary restraining order Judge John Kane said the Telluride Film Festival should not be allowed to run over the rights of Ms. Franklin.
