In the latest chapter in the Bananas*! Saga, Dole Food Company filed suit against director Fredrik Gertten, producer Margarete Jangard and production company WG Film, alleging defamation. According to Variety, Dole Food will seek permanent injunction against Gertten to prevent him from screening his film again. In the suit, Dole attorney Theodore Boutrous Jr. writes "To screen, promote, and profit from this film, despite the fact that its entire premise has been adjudicated a fraud ... is the epitome of reckless and irresponsible conduct."
Firing right back at Dole Food, Gertten's attorney, Richard J. Lee, issued a statement that says, in part: "My clients and I believe that this suit is without merit and represents the latest in a continued line of intimidating harassment by a multinational corporation aimed squarely at a small, independent film and its filmmakers." The letter is posted in its entirety, as is the defamation suit, on the Bananas*! website.
For more about Bananas*! screenings and discussions at the Los Angeles Film Festival, click to the LAFF report in Documentary magazine here and in indieWIRE's "Cinema Daily" column here.