MUMBAI: Japanese theatres finally released The Cove, a film about a Japanese dolphin-hunting village after protests by angry nationalists had forced theatres to cancel earlier showings.

Some of the six small cinemas sold out their initial shows and others were mostly empty. Another 18 are due to begin screening the film at later dates.

At Image Forum, an art theatre in Tokyo, about 30 protesters waved Japanese flags and blasted slogans against the film. Police stopped shoving matches between the protesters and a handful of supporters of the showing. 

Viewers were undeterred, and the first two showings at the theater were sold out.

Last month, three other theatres canceled the screenings of the film after noisy protests and a telephone campaign against the film. Nationalist groups say the US produced film was anti-Japanese and distorted the truth.

Some cinemas are trying to show both sides. A theatre in the central city of Nagoya plans to screen the controversial film along with Whalers and the Sea, a 1998 documentary that shows a favourable view of whaling in Japan.