MONTREAL — While fetish filmmaker Ira Isaacs awaits a verdict on federal obscenity counts in Los Angeles, another filmmaker is facing an obscenity trial in Canada.
Remy Couture, a Montreal-based special-effects artist, photographer and maker of short horror films, has been charged under Section 163 of the Criminal Code of Canada, which deals with child pornography, for distributing "Inner Depravity," a short video series he filmed depicting gory scenes of murder and sexual assault.
Couture, who faces trial on April 30 in Montreal, has pleaded not guilty in the case.
Three years ago, Interpol was alerted to InnerDepravity.com by a German surfer who was under the impression that the on-screen murders actually took place.
Police arrested Couture and raided his studio, charging him with obscenity violations for the series that involves a serial killer who tortures young women and injects drugs into himself.
Couture's lawyer Veronique Robert told CTV that this is the first time she's seen someone face obscenity charges for the content of a horror film.
Couture has taken his case to the Canadian public and has conducted countless print, radio and TV interviews along the way.
His website where he once showed the short, InnerDepravity.com, now redirects to SupportRemy.com, where he asks for support for in defending his right for freedom of expression.
"If the court finds him guilty, this will mean the end of your freedom of expression, for generations to come," the website says.
The charges have drawn criticism from fans and some in the artistic community.
"He pushed some boundaries because it is shocking with what you can see, but it's in an artistic way," Alexandre Duguay, a movie critic and horror aficionado, told CTV.
In the Isaacs case in Los Angeles, jurors are now in their second day of deliberations.
On Monday, one of the jurors in the Isaacs case had a problem with the Miller Test used to determine "obscenity."
"Up until [Monday] afternoon, the juror didn't want to accept it in determining the case, and the judge said, 'we have a problem," a source close to the case told XBIZ. "But that issue has been laid to rest. It could have amounted to jury nullification."
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