Pitchfork: The White Stripes Battle Filmmaker

The White Stripes Battle Filmmaker
Suckerpunch under careful consideration

Oh no! Filmmaker George Roca has royally pissed off The White Stripes! They're ravin' mad! Wtf? Omg: MTV reports that the group has served Roca with a cease-and-desist order after the documentarian scheduled eight festival screenings for his film Nobody Knows Hot to Talk to Children, which documents four White Stripes shows at New York City's Bowery Ballroom in 2002.

According to a statement posted on The White Stripes' stripesite, the Motor City duo had initially agreed to the film's production, citing a series of strange, yet somehow sexy stipulations: 1) whereas the film would be shot in black and white; 2) whereas the camera operators would wear white lab coats; 3) whereas the camera operators were not allowed to talk, and; 4) whereas The White Stripes would assume complete ownership of the resulting footage. The statement insists that Roca signed a contract to this effect.

Once the film was finished, the Stripes saw a cut that didn't meet their expectations, and they told Roca as much, expressing their intentions to edit and possibly release the film at some point in the future. Yet Roca has apparently decided to issue the film to festivals anyway-- and we quote-- "WITH NO APPROVAL OR PERMISSION FROM THE WHITE STRIPES, NO RELEASES AND NO LICENSES, NOT IN KEEPING WITH THE CONTRACT THAT HE SIGNED."

Though the agreement seemed clear, Roca tells a different story, saying that he had never discussed the terms of filming with White. "I feel so betrayed by this band and so screwed over," he said, speaking to MTV. "They turned famous and just forgot about us. It's remarkable that they have no sympathy for our situation whatsoever."

On the other hand, The White Stripes' official website politely explains that they had denied Roca the rights to screen the film as per their agreement, concluding with: "This situation is obviously an example of the latest generation of people who think they are entitled to do whatever they want-- no matter how greedy or self-serving (and possibly illegal) their actions may be-- with no repercussions for these actions."

For now, the band has laid down the law, resulting in the film being pulled from all festivals-- though interested fans can get a taste of the movie by watching the video for Black Math, which Roca claims is a blatant rip-off of the style of his film. "It literally looked like it was cut out of our film," Roca said. "We were shocked at the similarities, and it was such a disappointment. I can't even begin to explain."

In other news-- and in fact, part of the stated reason for the Stripes denying Roca the right to screen his film-- the White Stripes are planning to release a DVD by the end of the year that will document two performances from Blackpool, England. Until then, if you'd like to see the Stripes live, you'll just have to move to Europe, as they're making several festival appearances this August. And the nominees are:

08-01 Tokyo, Japan - Fuji Rock Festival
08-24 Dublin, Ireland - Marlay Park
08-25 Belfast, Ireland - Vital Festival
08-27 Paris, France - Rock En Seine Festival
08-28 Reading, England - Reading Festival
08-29 Leeds, England - Leeds Festival

.: Pitchfork Review: The White Stripes: Elephant