Waco and Branch Davidians Cited by Iran's Supreme Leader

According to "The Lede," the New York Times blog, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has cited the 1993 Branch Davidian standoff in Waco, Texas, as a reason for rejecting American criticism of Iran's response to opposition protests.

In a translation posted by Iran's Press TV, Ayatollah Khamenei stated at the end of a recent speech:

"During the term of a previous US government, eighty people affiliated with the Davidian sect were burnt alive in their compound in Waco, Texas. For some reason these people were disliked by the then US administration. Eighty people were burnt in that building, how dare you talk of human rights?"

Clearly, the Ayatollah doesn't know much about the circumstances behind the Waco standoff and its tragic outcome, just as he doesn't seem to understand much about why so many of his own people keep clammoring for fair elections and greater freedoms.

Many Americans, of course, don't know or remember much about the Waco standoff, either. One recent attempt in Texas to make a movie about the events apparently was stalled when it ran afoul of a particular clause in Texas' state incentives for moving image productions. That clause does not allow awarding state production incentives to projects that depict "Texas or Texans in a negative fashion..."

Recent rumors were that Waco would be shot in Louisiana, Oklahoma or New Mexico, where there would be no restrictions against depicting "Texas or Texans in a negative fashion...."

-- Si Dunn

"Waco" Production Company on Texas: "We Will Never Ever Shoot in That State"

By Si Dunn

Emilio Ferrari, described on the Internet Movie Database website as "one of Hollywood's busiest independent producers," is hopping mad. Ferrari, an executive with Entertainment 7 in Sherman Oaks, Calif., is vowing to "never ever shoot" another movie in Texas.

The Austin American-Statesman reported May 20 that Texas state tax incentives have been denied for Entertainment 7's movie project Waco because of alleged "factual inaccuracies" in the script.

Waco focuses on the violent 1993 standoff between federal law enforcement agencies and the Branch Davidians led by David Koresh, at a compound near Waco, Texas.

Texas State Film Commissioner Bob Hudgins rejected the incentives, telling the American-Statesman that his decision was based on restrictions put into place in 2007 by the Texas legislature. A provision (introduced by Republican State Senator Steve Ogden) restricts filmmakers taking tax incentives from depicting "Texas or Texans in a negative fashion" in their productions.

Hudgins told the American-Statesman that his decision to deny the incentives to Entertainment 7 was "not censorship at all," and he added that Entertainment 7 is welcome to shoot Waco in Texas--without state financial assistance.

But Emilio Ferrari, in an email sent to Dateline: Oblivion from the Cannes Film Festival, sees things much differently:

"First of all, for the record, the script on the story of what happened in Waco is very accurate. Years and years of research and our co-producer is someone whose Waco doc won an Emmy and was nominated for an Academy Award. Also, it's pure bullshit what the head of the film commission said about the script having factual inaccuracies. He has had the script since last year and loved it and couldn’t wait for us to come there and shoot and was helping us with locations, etc. And now, suddenly, the script is no good, like he is amazingly now an expert on Waco based on his years and years of research. Come on, give me a break. We all know what’s going on here. It's politics in full force. And...it's pure censorship and political pressure," Ferrari stated.

"We were also going to bring another film to shoot there (Texas) with a studio behind it, but now, after all this, we will never ever shoot in that state. And we shoot a lot of films."

This news likely will be disappointing to many who work in Texas' struggling moving images industry. Hopes for new productions and new jobs have been running high since Gov. Rick Perry signed Texas' new production incentives legislation into law April 23 at Robert Rodriguez's Troublemaker Studios in Austin.

The Waco movie was expected to create numerous production jobs in Texas.

But as Ferarri told the American-Statesman, "It's not a movie about Texas. It's about an incident that happened there, but it could have happened anywhere."

In this case, after the incentives rejection, Waco very likely will now be filmed "anywhere"--except Texas.

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