Jean-Luc Godard Donates Money To Help Pay For The Legal Costs Of A European Man Found Guilty Of Illegally Downloading MP3s

Just when you thought Jean-Luc Godard couldn’t get any cooler.

First off, let me say, I, or anyone here at the CriterionCast do not condone illegally downloading media such as music nor video.   That said, with the current way those who are caught downloading said media are dealt with, with those who set up outlets such as Limewire or Frostwire let off pretty much free, you do have to feel a bit sorry for them.

Well, at least Godard does.

According to BoingBoing, the auteur recently donated a thousand euros towards the legal defense costs of James Climent, a man who was recently fined 20,000 euros for downloading a massive 13,788 MP3s.

Boing Boing reader Paul R. offers this translation of an important Godard quote in the linked news story:

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…

Now, while it’s kind of hard to fill sad for a man found guilty of downloading that many MP3s, but it is an interesting statement from a filmmaker who for the most part is ahead of his time.   For a filmmaker, once quoted as saying ‘it’s not where you take things from ‘“ it’s where you take them to,’ to truly make a statement like this, as much of a minute drop in a much larger bucket as it may be, is quite something.

What do you think about this news? Where do you stand on the current state of media sharing and how it is legislated?

Source: BoingBoing

From Jean-Luc Godard’s latest, Film Socialisme:

A symphony in three movements. Things such as: The Mediterranean, a cruise ship. Numerous conversations, in numerous languages, between the passengers, almost all of whom are on holiday’¦ An old man, a war criminal (German, French, American we don’t know) accompanied by his granddaughter. A famous French philosopher (Alain Badiou). A representative of the Moscow police, detective branch.

An American singer (Patti Smith). An old French policeman. A fired female United Nations officer. A former double agent. A Palestinian ambassador.

It’s a matter of gold, as it was before with the Argonauts, but what is seen (the image) is very different from what is heard (the word).

Our humanities. Visits to six sites of true or false myths: Egypt, Palestine, Odessa, Hellas, Naples and Barcelona.

Our Europe. At night, a sister and her younger brother have summoned their parents to appear before the court of their childhood. One of the parents in fact has to appear on television to stand as a candidate in the local elections. The children demand serious explications of the themes of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.