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.
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.
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.
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