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  3 'Twist of Faith' Screenings Set at UT

Toledo Blade [Toledo OH]
October 20, 2005

Twist of Faith is finally getting a regular screening in Toledo.

Sort of.

The Oscar-nominated documentary, about Tony Comes, a Toledo firefighter who alleges he was sexually molested by a priest while he was a student at Central Catholic High School, will be shown tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday at the University of Toledo's Doermann Theater.

Directed by the respected filmmaker Kirby Dick, it never received a wide theatrical run, but was shown once at the Maumee Indoor Theater in June for an invitation-only crowd. It also has aired a few times on HBO, and will be available on DVD in January.

The Maumee theater, however, never showed the critically acclaimed film again, prompting complaints of censorship. Theater representatives said the decision to not show the movie was based entirely on financial reasons.

"The history of motion pictures is filled with examples of theaters, distributors, or towns engaging in this indirect censorship by preventing access," Tammy Kinsey, associate chairman and assistant professor of film at UT, said in a news release.

"Sometimes there are financial reasons for these decisions, but this too has a clear historical precedent as a means of blocking the screening of a film."

The film follows Comes as he realizes the man who moved down the street from him is Dennis Gray, the former priest who allegedly abused him when he was a teenager. Mr. Comes filed a lawsuit against the Toledo Catholic Diocese alleging the molestation, and the case was eventually settled out of court.

The film will be shown 7:30 tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday. Comes will hold a question-and-answer session after Saturday's screening. Tickets, $7, may be purchased with cash or check - but no credit cards - at the box office, which opens at 6:30 each night.

 
 

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