Judge blocks festival from showing Aretha Franklin concert movie

LOS ANGELES – Singer Aretha Franklin on Friday won a court order blocking the Telluride Film Festival from screening "Amazing Grace," a film based predominantly on footage from her 1972 concert at a Los Angeles church. The two-week temporary restraining order entered by US District Judge John Kane does not resolve a dispute over the concert footage. The festival in a statement on Friday acknowledged that the injunction blocked the screening of "Amazing Grace" and said it would show a different film but made no further comment. Producer Alan Elliott obtained rights to the footage from Warner Brothers Studios that required separate permission from Franklin, which has not been granted, according to court papers. "The unauthorized public release of the film 'Amazing Grace' will violate Ms. Franklin's rights to publicity, right to the use of her name and likeness, constitutes an invasion of privacy under Colorado law, and also violates the federal anti-bootlegging statute," her attorneys said in court papers. Franklin sued Elliott in 2011 to prevent unauthorized use of the footage and he agreed then not to release the film, Franklin's lawsuit said. –Reuters