Awards Cancelled Following Screeners Ban

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association has cancelled its annual awards show in protest at the ban on sending DVDs and tapes of films to OSCAR voters.

The awards, normally held in December (03), are a major indicator of who will be in the running for the Oscars - however, the ban was imposed by the MOTION PICTURE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA (MPAA) in a bid to curb piracy.

American journalist ELLA TAYLOR says, "Unless they rescind the ban we just don't feel that we can really do our work properly."

Last week (begs13OCT03) MPAA president Jack Valenti met with studio bosses to try and find a way of compromising the ruling, which has created an outcry in Hollywood.

Actors and filmmakers claim the ban will put independent films at a disadvantage because voters will not have time to see every film in the cinema, and independent film-makers and studios cannot afford the cost of renting cinemas to screen their films for voters.