Tuesday, September 14, 2010

God(ard) Bless Us


Godard has recently been in the news in France for showing his support for a man, James Climent, who is being sued 20,000 euros for having downloaded nearly 14,000 free MP3s. Godard donated a thousand euros as part of Climent's legal fund because – as he would say in a statement to the press – he is against the idea of intellectual property. Here is the quote: "I am against Hadopi [the French internet-copyright law, or its attendant agency], of course. There is no such thing as intellectual property. I'm against the inheritance [of works], for example. An artist's children could benefit from the copyright of their parents' works, say, until they reach the age of majority... But afterward, it's not clear to me why Ravel's children should get any income from Bolero." The cartoon used to accompany the article is printed above. It also credits Godard with having once said, "It's not where you take things from [that matters] - it's where you take them to." The title of this post is the one James Climent used to describe his unexpected encounter with the reclusive eighty-year old filmmaker: "God(ard) bless us." [Thanks to Benjamin Schultz-Figueroa for forwarding me an article on Climent and Godard]
S I-G

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