Venezuela Gives Glover More Film Funds

Venezuela has given an extra $9 million to the film "Toussaint," a co-production between Danny Glover's Louverture Films and Venezuela's film studio Villa del Cine, reports EUR. However, not all filmmakers believe the money should've been accepted.

The government has already donated nearly $18 million toward the $30 million budget of Glover's pet project about Toussaint Louverture, who led an 18th-century uprising in Haiti.

But Venezuelan writer-director Jonathan Jakubowicz – whose kidnap drama "Secuestro Express" angered Chavez's government for its hard-hitting portrayal of sociopolitical malaise in Venezuela – says the earmarked money is at the expense of the country's poor.

"In a country with rampant poverty, a catastrophic health crisis and 14,000 violent deaths a year, President Hugo Chavez gives away our money for his friends to play with," said the L.A.-based filmmaker. "I don't know if Mr. Glover's conscience lets him sleep, but he's certainly present in all my nightmares." source