Article published June 29, 2005
Maumee rejects public showing of priest-abuse film
By RYAN E. SMITH
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Twist of Faith, the Academy Award-nominated documentary set in Toledo, will not get a regular public showing at the Maumee Indoor Theatre despite inquiries by its distributor about screening it there.
The film's director and others say the decision raises questions of censorship.
Not so, say officials at the theater and the city of Maumee, which owns the building. They said yesterday it was a financial decision and had nothing to do with the film, which is about the sex-abuse scandal in the Catholic church.
The documentary, chronicling the lawsuit of Toledo firefighter Tony Comes against the Toledo Catholic Diocese for years of alleged rape and molestation by a local priest, premiered to an invitation-only crowd at the Maumee theater on Monday. It aired on HBO last night.
About a week earlier, Great Eastern Theater Co., contract manager for the site, was approached about showing the movie for perhaps a week. It consulted with the city and ultimately agreed to pass, according to city and theater officials.
"We were extremely excited to be able to play the premiere, but a little bit leery of playing it for a whole week," said Jim Walter, president of Great Eastern. He said other movies were already booked, and showing Twist of Faith would have diminished revenue."We weren't interested in it for anything more than one night," said John Jezak, Maumee's city administrator. "It's just a business decision."
Mr. Comes doesn't buy that explanation. "The fact that [St. Joseph's Church in Maumee], where everything first began, at least for me, is a quarter-mile down the street [from the theater] does not escape me. ... I'm more than a little ticked off," he said.
Director Kirby Dick said the great response at the premiere indicates there is interest locally in seeing the film.
"It's most important that the citizens of Toledo see the film, because it is about Toledo," he said. "I've never before had any film I made censored in any community inside the U.S.
"I don't believe that it's a financial decision," he added.
That's all it was, Maumee Mayor Tim Wagener said. "The charge that we were trying to protect any entity - be it the Church, St. Joe's - is laughable," said the mayor who, like Mr. Jezak, is Catholic and attends St. Joseph's. "Because if that were the case, we would never have allowed HBO to do a world premier of said documentary at the Indoor in the first place."
Sally Oberski, spokesman for the diocese, said the Church wasn't involved in the decision, and it sees the film in terms of helping victims come forward.
There's still hope that the film - which played at the Sundance Film Festival and is to be screened in New York City and San Francisco - could be shown in the Toledo area. Its distributor, Artistic License Films, said it is committed to getting the film into the community and will next approach National Amusements Inc., the theater chain that owns most of the screens in the area.
Claudia Vercellotti, coordinator of the Toledo chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said it would be disappointing if Toledoans don't get to see it. "To keep this from the community would be absolutely a tragedy," she said. "Isn't that exactly what the bishops did for decades?"
Contact Ryan E. Smith at:
ryansmith@theblade.com
or 419-724-6103.
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