“Bikuri,” said a moviegoer, using the Japanese term to mean “surprised.” She exclaimed that to a packed theater at the Tokyo International Film Festival. The woman was talking about "The Cove," a documentary she’d just watched, that tracks the dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan. The theater had just hosted Japan’s one and only screening of the award-winning documentary.

A still from film shows dolpins being driven towards Taiji.

It was a screening that almost didn’t happen. The Tokyo International Film Festival initially balked at the movie taking part in the festival, but eventually caved after international pressure. Watch a trailer for "The Cove"

But as cameras lined up to cover the Tokyo Film Festival’s showing of "The Cove," handlers threw their hands over camera lenses and ordered reporters to stop asking questions. Media crews were corralled into a fire escape saying the theater’s owner would not allow access to moviegoers on their property. The only access would be a tightly controlled question and answer session of festival goers and the filmmaker.

Such heightened sensitivity highlights the controversy surrounding the award-winning documentary that challenge’s Japan’s continued allowance of coastal whaling. "The Cove" follows the fishermen of Taiji, who for say they've hunted dolphin for meat for 400 years. CNN tracked the hunt last year, as fishermen in boats corralled the dolphins in from sea. Divers in the water chased and dragged them into the cove.

In only a few minutes. The water turned red with blood as the throats of the dolphins were slashed. Fishermen transported the carcasses onto boats and took them to a pier, where they were gutted. CNN found dolphin meat sold in local grocery stores.

Not all the dolphins were killed. Some were transported to holding areas where the town eventually sells them to aquariums around the world, a practice called “live capture.”

The movie calls the treatment of the dolphins in the cove inhumane, but also say the meat has high levels of mercury.

Japan’s government says the meat, like tuna, can contain mercury, but is not harmful if eaten in moderation. Japan allows approximately 20,000 dolphins killed each year, because the species is not endangered.

“The Japanese government is very keen on the resource maintenance, so that sustainability is maintained. Each country, each race, has its own traditions to be respected. The international community should cooperate while respecting each other’s traditions and eating habits,” said Yasuhisa Kawamura, Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs deputy press secretary.

Kawamura adds that in Western cultures, people have an emotional connection to dolphins, yet are able to hunt deer and eat cows. “Cows are cute, dolphins are cute,” he said.

"The Cove’s" filmmakers hope to change that mindset. Director Louie Psihoyos told the film fest’s crowd: “Now we have this movie called ‘The Cove’ and hopefully everybody in Japan will get the same information the government isn’t giving you.” Psihoyos made that comment in reference to what the film alleges is toxic levels of mercury in the dolphins.

After the screening, the cameras were promptly ejected from the theater’s property. CNN managed to grab one festival attendee, Kenkichi Takizawa. “People should watch this movie before they argue about this issue,” he said.

But with no future screenings and no distributor in Japan, few in Japan will even know the documentary was ever made.