Moore’s blistering critique of the President Bush and his conduct of the war in Iraq also played to packed movie houses on the communist-ruled island for a week.

A spokesman for one of the film’s U.S. distributors, the Fellowship Adventure Group—formed by Miramax Films co-chairman Bob and Harvey Weinstein—told Reuters the TV broadcast in Cuba was “not authorized.”

And entertainment trade paper Daily Variety reported that the French-based overseas distributor for the film, Wild Bunch, denied that it had made any TV deal in Cuba.

Because the Academy rule restricting TV or Internet display of Oscar contenders applies only to documentaries, “Fahrenheit 9/11” could still qualify for nomination as best picture, best director or best original screenplay.

Variety speculated that backers of the film might regard the movie, which has been popular among Hollywood’s liberal-leaning elite, as having a better chance of clinching a nomination in the best picture race if it was disqualified from the documentary contest.

Producers of Moore’s film have another month to decide how they want the film to be entered in Oscar competition. The deadline for submission of documentary candidates is Sept. 1. Pavlik said the academy typically receives about 60 submissions for that category.

Last year’s Academy Award for best documentary feature went to the Errol Morris film “Fog of War,” about the difficult lessons of military conflict learned by former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara. Moore won the year before for his study of gun violence in America, “Bowling for Columbine.”