To: Piers Handling, Co-Director
Noah Cowan, Co-Director
Sean Farnel, Real to Reel Programmer

September 8, 2004

An Open Letter to the Toronto International Film Festival

We are appealing to you again (after our first appeal to you on Aug. 29) to pull the film, Casuistry: The Art of Killing a Cat, from your program. We have three major concerns: (1) by showing a film which predominantly gives voice to Jesse Power and his excuses, it fails to show respect to Kensington, the cat, who was brutally tortured and murdered in his snuff video alleged to be “art”; (2) the filmmakers, one of which has had previous associations with Jesse Power’s biggest apologist, are presenting a biased point of view, not an objective view, and; (3) the negative social implications of a documentary that is bound to be controversial and thus (in)famous given its subject matter. Will it encourage copycats to commit heinous acts in the name of art and then have some filmmakers produce a documentary on it? This is encouraging violence by making the torture and murder of a cat socially acceptable by rewarding the criminals their 15 minutes of fame with the seal of approval from the film establishment.

Animal rights activists and members of the general public who support pulling the film from the Festival have been accused of (1) trying to stifle freedom of expression and debate and (2) supposedly acting out of ignorance since many of us have not seen the film and therefore cannot comment or make an a priori judgment. Below is our response to these accusations.

TIFF: Show Compassion for Kensington

Freedom for Animals has been involved in Kensington’s case since the news of the brutal mutilation, torture, and murder of Kensington by Jesse Power, Anthony Wennekers, and Matt Kaczorowski became public in June 2001. We have vowed to Kensington that we will never forget what happened to him and that we will give him a voice in our society. We believe no one should receive fame and fortune from Kensington’s murder. One of our major campaigns is Kensington’s Law, lobbying the federal government to introduce strong anti-cruelty laws. Kensington’s case, as you know, has galvanized people around the world to protect animals from abuse and cruelty. It was a shocking crime due to its evil nature and the extremely lenient sentences the three men received. Jesse Power, for example, received a 90-day prison sentence to be served on weekends so he can continue going to art school. For your information, Mr. Power, though still under probation for Kensington’s case, is before the courts again under theft charges.

Freedom for Animals is a non-violent, grassroots organization that has been working for a more compassionate world since its establishment five years ago. We have worked with police and Crown authorities to bring justice for Kensington’s case. We have notified the police about our scheduled protests at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Biased View of the Filmmakers

Zev Asher, the director of Casuistry, has recently said: “I cannot condone or condemn what (Power and Co.) did.” (Toronto Sun, Aug. 28, 2004) Linda Feesey, the producer of the film, has stated: “They (Jesse Power, Anthony Wennekers, and Matt Kaczorowski) really do regret the whole thing. They’re not trying to glorify themselves.” (Toronto Star, August 31, 2004) These statements made by the director and producer of Casuistry clearly indicate their point of view which we believe make them apologists for Kensington’s three torturers and murderers. Even the film’s title Casuistry was Jesse Power’s idea (Toronto Sun, Aug. 28, 2004; Pat Tohill, Sept. 3, 2004).

Jesse Power, the art student who tried to pass his snuff video of Kensington’s murder as art, is prominently shown in Casuistry at length. Mike Strobel says: “Jesse Power is the star of Casuistry.” (Toronto Sun, Aug. 28, 2004) Three films made by Mr. Power are also shown, including a scene where he hits a chicken’s head three times with a small instrument before the chicken’s head comes off. Pat Tohill, Campaigns and Communications Manager of the World Society for the Protection of Animals, who has seen Casuistry has reported:

The film starts with clips from a 1980 performance art film in which two cats are disemboweled. We are told that the artist who produced this "cruel, terrorist performance" (his words) later won a Governor General's award, which seems to validate the view that animal killing can be art…
The filmmakers, consciously or unconsciously seem to be completing the film project that convicted cat killer Jesse Power set out to make. Most of the debate in the film concerns the reasons Power says he killed the cat: that this unspeakably evil act was somehow art; that people are hypocritical for putting more value on a cat than on animals that suffer in farms, slaughterhouses, and laboratories. These were Powers arguments… If the filmmakers’ intention is to show us there are all kinds of horrible things that people do to animals, they'll get no disagreement from me. It is disturbing though that this is the reasoning that Power used in an attempt to justify his crime. The film in the end becomes a platform for Power and his twisted ideas. (Tohill, Sept. 3, 2004)

Several members of Freedom for Animals have refused to do an interview with Ms. Feesey for the film Casuistry. The refusal has been based on the association of Ms. Feesey with Jesse Power’s friend Jubal Brown, who has been outspoken in support of Mr. Power throughout Kensington’s case. (For example, Ms. Feesey’s 2002 film, Mr. Kafka's Holiday, stars Jubal Brown.) Yet, I, Suzanne Lahaie, co-founder of Freedom for Animals, am featured in Casuistry for several minutes and referred to as “Anonymous.” For the past year, I have refused to sign the consent form to release an interview I had with Ms. Feesey. Freedom for Animals is seeking legal action on this matter.

In Casuistry, Jesse Power accuses Joanne King, who reported him to the police, as seeking reward money by saying in the film “With junkies, money’s very important.” (Globe and Mail, Sept. 4, 2004) Members of Freedom for Animals have met Joanne King and know of her compassionate reasons for calling the police. It is astounding that the filmmakers did not edit this out, giving voice to Mr. Power and his twisted thoughts, and zero voice to Ms. King, who is a heroine to the voiceless. This is not a “balanced,” “responsible,” nor an “intelligent” account seeking the truth.

Negative Social Implications

As the second largest film festival in the world, the films TIFF chooses to screen have a major implication for public debate. What concerns us here is that Casuistry has potentially negative social implications by exhibiting and encouraging violence. Does that mean that someone can make a documentary about Paul Bernardo and his videos and if Mr. Bernardo said it was in the name of art, should “objective documentarians” take his outrageous assertion seriously? And should the TIFF feature such a film prominently at the Cumberland? Isn’t there a danger that associates of his or strangers might try to profit from his heinous crimes? If our anti-cruelty laws had been as strong as they should be, Mr. Power, Mr. Wennekers, and Mr. Kaczorowski would still be in jail and they would not be involved in making this documentary where they are, in effect, promoting cruelty to animals. It is well known that serial killers are often intelligent people who are able to manipulate people and situations to their advantage and who start their crimes on non-human animals. People who commit crimes on videotape take pleasure in shocking others. Now the filmmakers who are apologists for Kensington’s murderers are adding a new dimension of shock in Kensington’s case with a “documentary” and the fact that it is being screened at the TIFF.

By including Casuistry in the Festival, you are not only promoting, you may be encouraging Jesse Power and people like him to commit actions of extreme, premeditated, and illegal cruelty to animals and to achieve notoriety and a platform at the same time. The question of “is this art?” shouldn’t even be asked in Casuistry. Jesse Power made a snuff video. The film is trying to create moral ambiguity when there isn’t any. In society, there are places we draw the line.

A Real Debate?

We are for freedom of expression and debate. But art stops with cruelty. The Court of Appeal judges in Kensington’s case stated: “[T]o rationalize his [Jesse Power] actions as some form of artistic endeavour or artistic commentary gone amuck, that interpretation is inconsistent with the contents of the videotape. Whatever the respondent’s intentions or motives at the outset, this became torture for torture’s sake.” (June 2003)

In the case of Jesse Power’s 17-minute snuff video (which is not shown in Casuistry and which has been allegedly destroyed by police) many activists chose not to see it in the court proceedings and many activists and journalists who did see it wished they had not, due to its evil content. It is not necessary for everyone to see the footage for people to have an opinion on it. The accusation that anyone who is fit to make a judgment about Casuistry should first see it is very clever: imagine the loads of money the film would make from everyone in the animal rights community alone!

Why did the TIFF choose to show Casuistry and not Peaceable Kingdom (www.tribeofheart.org), a film that was rejected by the TIFF even though it was made by award-winning filmmakers about animals being raised for food and the positive steps people can take to end animal suffering? What criteria did you use in your selection of animal films? Will you be publicly accountable and present your criteria to the public? Not only would we like to see the TIFF pull Casuistry from its program but also a policy that it would not screen any film that involved cruelty to animals in its production.

We will be protesting at the screenings of Casuistry at the TIFF and anywhere else it will show. We vow to keep the focus on Kensington the cat, as it should be.

We would like to meet with you as early as possible to discuss these issues. Please contact us at 416-591-5120 to arrange an appointment.

Yours sincerely,

Suzanne Lahaie

Co-founder, Freedom for Animals and the Kensington Market Stray Cat Rescue