A Lawsuit Explains Why You May Have Not Seen One Oscar Winning Documentary

Posted by Eriq Gardner

Looks like ThinkFilm and its moneyman David Bergstein's financial troubles are leading to an avalanche of legal trouble.

According to the latest lawsuit, documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney, the helmer behind recent Oscar-winning film "Taxi to the Dark Side," ThinkFilm fradulently hid the fact that it could not properly release the film in theaters. Gibney executed an arbitration clause in his contract with the company that lets the dispute be argued before the Independent Film & Television Alliance.

According to the complaint, which seeks more than $1 million in damages, ThinkFilm "jeopardized the success of the film by failing to abide by the terms of contracts it entered into with public relations firms and advisors and failed to pay such firms for work done and expenses incurred."

Executives at ThinkFilm were irate at the claims.

"How ironic that a man who professes to care so much about the people who worked hard on his film would then inflict such insult and injury upon the blameless and tireless ThinkFilm staff," Mark Urman told indieWIRE. "And, how disappointing that a man who professes to be all about the cause, is now all about the money."