This week the indie comedy film “The People’s Joker” was pulled from the Toronto International Film Festival following a single screening that reportedly generated very positive reactions.
Filmmaker Vera Drew wrote, directed, and stars in the film as an aspiring clown and comedian grappling with her gender identity and dreams of being cast in a TV sketch show – the only government-sanctioned space for comedy that is otherwise criminalized.
Disillusioned by a botched audition, she partners with a birdlike slacker to found their own alternative comedy troupe – attracting not only a rogues gallery of would-be comics, but the ire of a fascistic caped crusader.
The film was removed from the event’s programming with the assumption being a possible cease & desist court order was issued by Warner Bros. – which owns the DC character catalogue. Now though, in a posting on Twitter, Drake explains that things didn’t go quite that far:
“The eve of our premiere… a media conglomerate that shall remain nameless sent me an angry letter (misreported as a ‘cease and desist’) pressuring to not screen.
Any other film festival would have pulled us immediately, but after being fully transparent with TIFF, we agreed to premiere as planned while scaling back our later screenings to mitigate potential blowback.
It was disappointing (especially since I went to great lengths with legal counsel to have it fall under parody/fair use) but I made this choice to protect our film’s future and to protect our new friends at TIFF who have been some of TPJ’s biggest advocates.
Drake adds that the movie will “screen again very soon at several other festivals worldwide” and right now the team are seeking a distribution partner who believes in what they are doing. A recent Collider interview with the filmmakers goes into the origins of the project and its standing.
As to where the film may next resurface, we shall have to wait and see.
Source: Twitter
