L.A. Critics Cancel Awards In Protest Of Valenti's Screener Ban

from the anger-rising... dept

Jack Valenti really must feel strongly about this whole plan to ban sending out "screener" DVDs to award show voters. Despite complaints from tons of folks in the movie industry, he stands by his claims that banning screeners will somehow stop movie piracy. Of course, it won't, because someone somewhere else will still get their hands on the movie and it will still get out there, meaning this whole process will do nothing but annoy movie critics and awards voters. Now, to further protest the move, the LA Film Critics Association has decided to ditch their own awards event this year. They decided that completely calling off their planned awards (which often influence the Oscars) would be a much bigger statement than just dashing off a nastygram like everyone else. In a statement, they explained why, saying that the "ban on screeners seriously inhibits our ability to work as professionals and compromises the integrity and fairness of the evaluative process."