The drama surrounding one of the Toronto International Film Festival’s most off-the-beaten-path screenings continues to simmer following the star and director of The People’s Joker, Vera Drew, announcing via her Twitter account that she plans to screen the film ”very soon at several festivals worldwide.” The film was removed from the TIFF lineup after its premiere screening by Drew due to reported “rights issues,” according to the festival’s website.
According to Drew’s statement, “…a media conglomerate that shall remain nameless sent me an angry letter…pressuring not to screen.” she goes on to state that she went to “great lengths with legal counsel to have [the film] fall under parody/fair use” prior to it’s TIFF premiere, but canceled the scheduled screening “to Protect our new friends at TIFF who have been some of [The People’s Joker]’s biggest advocates. Drew goes on to state that she is seeking a distributor who will “eventually make this film accessible to trans people and their families everywhere.”
Although Drew avoids saying it, the “media conglomerate” in question is very likely to be Warner Bros. Discovery, in an attempt, misguided or otherwise, to protect its DC Comics intellectual property. If the title wasn’t an indication, the protagonist of the film is a green-haired, white-faced, purple-garbed clown who lives in “Gotham City” and numbs herself with “Smylex” (the same name as the smile-inducing deadly poison used by Jack Nicholson’s Joker in 1989’s Batman) according to the description accompanying the film’s trailer on Drew’s Twitter account. The protagonist is also said to have to face a “fascist caped crusader” in the film.
Drew’s film may indeed fall under the purview of fair use and parody; The Globe and Mail reported that a title card that displayed before the film ran identified many DC IPs by name, while still stating that any copyright infringement was “unintentional,” as reported by Variety. The full card read as follows:
“This film is a parody and is at present time completely unauthorized by DC Comics, Warner Brothers or anyone claiming ownership of the trademarks therein (eg. ‘Joker,’ ‘Batman, etc.). Aside from licensed stock, all video and graphics featured in the film are original materials, often recreations of iconic comic book movie set pieces created by Vera Drew and a team of over 100 independent artists and filmmakers on three separate continents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Any copyright or trademark infringement was not done intentionally. After consulting with counsel, the director believes in good faith that use of these names and characters in a autobiographical context of her personal coming-out story is protected by Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, which allows ‘fair use’ for purposes such as a relevant criticism, social commentary or education.”
While Drew may very well have obtained legal counsel prior to the screening of the film, naming the actual characters parodied and declaring segments in the film to be recreations may mean the creative team has, in the words of The Austin Chronicle‘s Culture Desk Editor Richard Whittaker, “walked into a copyright buzzsaw.”
The People’s Joker has also been pulled from the upcoming Fantastic Fest lineup as well. The film is not currently set to screen elsewhere at time of publication.