Posts Tagged ‘film censorship’
July 13th, 2010
A film by director Martyn See featuring a speech by former political detainee Lim Hock Siew,
has been banned by Singapore’s Information, Arts and Culture Ministry. The films shows Siew discussing the details of his internment, prompting the government to deem it “contrary to public interest” and demand its removal from YouTube. See has published details of the incident, including scans of the government’s letter to him, on
his blog.
June 11th, 2010
The Cambodian authorities have blocked a new documentary that indicts the government in the assassination of an outspoken trade union leader. Who Killed Chea Vichea? argues that Vichea, who championed better pay and working conditions for local factory workers, could not have been killed without the cooperation of Cambodia’s political elites. Two men, sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for Vichea’s murder, were released in 2004 but remain on bail.
May 21st, 2010
Film-maker
Jafar Panahi has been imprisoned in Iran since 1 March after the government accused him of making a documentary about last year’s presidential election. He was to be on the Palme d’Or judging panel at the Cannes film festival this week where fellow Iranian film-maker, Abbas Kiarostami, called his arrest an “attack on art” and launched an appeal for his release on 18 May. Panahi has reportedly begun a
hunger strike until he is allowed to meet with a lawyer, see his family and be released.
July 21st, 2009
Saudi Arabia’s only film festival was cancelled at the last hour after apparent religious pressure within the highly conservative Islamic kingdom. The Jeddah film festival, which was scheduled to open on Saturday had planned to be a rare showcase for movie-makers in Saudi Arabia, a country where cinemas were banned for almost three decades. Read more
here
July 2nd, 2009
Councillors in Glasgow have lifted an unofficial 30-year-old ban on the Monty Python film The Life of Brian. The council’s licensing and regulatory committee approved a request on Tuesday from Glasgow Film Theatre to show the biblical satire under a 15 certificate. Read more
here
June 15th, 2009
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) have said that controversial Lars von Trier film, Antichrist, will be released uncut, as an 18 certificate version in the UK, despite scenes featuring erect penises, violent sex and genital mutilation. Read more
here
