p2pnet.net News:- It was more than just the eve of the opening of France’s Cannes movie festival.

It was also the occasion of the first French conference on online movie piracy, graced by the presence of:

• Olivier Bomsel, a professor at the Cerna research unit of the notorious engineering school "Les Mines" in Paris, and whose best-known idea is to tax uploads as a means of limiting file-sharing;
• Dara MacGreevy, regional director of the MPA (Motion Picture Association);
• Luc Besson, movie director (The Fifth Element, The Crimson River 2) and ceo of Europa Corp, who wants to stop file-sharing altogether, if only he can figure out how to do it; and, of course; and,
• Quentin Tarantino, this year’s jury president at the Cannes film festival.

And Tarantino had several interesting confessions to make, including the fact that he himself has been a file-sharer, as this AFP story says.

Nor is he against it – if you happen to be Chinese.

"For me, it’s not 100 percent black and white", explained Tarantino in another AFP report. "My movies have never been allowed in China, even if we have shot three months over there. I am pleased that Chinesemen pirate them. At least, they finally manage to see them."

In 1995, he was in Beijing "where I consider myself as unknown. I was hanging out in the streets when a student accosted me. He has screened all my movies on pirated copies that come from Japan."

The video clerk turned film-maker admitted he bought bootleg copies of hard-to-get Shaw brothers’ films to help recreate scenes in his blockbuster "Kill Bill" series because he couldn’t find them anywhere in America.

"I would be a liar to say across the board ‘No piracy’," Tarantino said.

But, in a nod to arguments against piracy put forward during the day-long seminar by several prominent European anti-piracy industry figures, Tarantino nonetheless said copying threatens moviemaking.

"There’s a whole lot of livelihoods at stake," he said, adding, "finding funds for making a movie is harder. And those who work at inferior stakes will suffer from piracy".

Nevertheless, when it came to some countries where his films were not ever officially made available – notably China, where he shot part of "Kill Bill" – he advocated piracy.

"In the case of China, I’m glad they’re pirating it. In a closed Communist country I’d rather be seen than not seen," Tarantino said."

At least, he’s honest.

Thuan Huynh – Paris, France

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