Omar Sharif plays the title role in Monsieur Ibrahim

The ban is meant to cut movie piracy and only the Oscars are exempt, but some say it will harm smaller films.

The producers of French drama Monsieur Ibrahim have sent videos of the fillm to voters for the Screen Actors' Guild Awards, said the Hollywood Reporter.

The producers say star Omar Sharif deserves to be considered for prizes.

The movie industry's trade body, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), conceded that the ban was voluntary, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Adrien Brody is among the stars to have protested at the ban

And Monsieur Ibrahim's French producers, Laurent Petin and Michele Halberstadt Petin, who run ARP Productions, are not members of the MPAA.

But the film will be released in the United States by Sony Pictures Classics, who are covered by the rule.

Sony Pictures Classics told ARP not to send the videos - but could not do anything to stop them, Ms Halberstadt Petin told the Hollywood Reporter.

"This was our doing. They understood our position, but we own the copyright to this film, and we are entitled to [send them]," she said.

The MPAA introduced the rule because, it said, half of the so-called screener videos and DVDs sent to Oscars voters last year were copied.

Ceremony 'catastrophe'

This year, Oscars voters are the only award judges who will legitimately receive the films - but only after signing agreements pledging to make sure they are not copied.

Organisers of smaller award ceremonies have complained that their voters have been disadvantaged.

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association has cancelled its prize-giving in protest while the UK's Bafta Awards have warned of a "catastrophe" for the ceremony.