This [Flickr photostream](http://www.flickr.com/photos/insubs/) consists of nothing but photos of DVD collections, which seems like a pretty pointless thing to photograph. But it’s all to make the point that users who download subtitling files aren’t necessarily pirates. In many cases, they have legitimate DVDs — but in the wrong language.
Hollywood has gotten much more aggressive about releasing blockbusters in theaters “day-and-date” — a movie like Transformers will appear pretty much everywhere worldwide simultaneously. But for home video, and particularly for less-than-blockbusters and television series, the disparity in release dates is maddening. My movie came out in Australia one full year after the U.S release. Australia, people.
That’s the point behind “Queremos Cultura” (“We Want Culture”). There is a worldwide audience that wants to watch American movies and TV shows, but because of bureaucracy and myopia, there is no legal way for them to do it.
I was [sympathetic about this on The Nines](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2008/more-on-the-torrents), but sympathy accomplishes nothing. There’s not going to be a filmmaker-driven solution. The studios are all now international corporations, and need to take more leadership in letting the global audience see movies and TV shows in a timely fashion.