US film festival boycott over Tibet: state media

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

AFP
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BEIJING — Two Chinese movies have been pulled out of the Palm Springs International Film Festival in the United States in protest at the inclusion of a film about Tibet, state-run media reported Wednesday.

The makers of the Chinese films were upset over the inclusion of "The Sun Behind the Clouds: Tibet's Struggle for Freedom," the Beijing Times newspaper said.

The film deals with the "trials and tribulations" of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, in advocating autonomy for his Himalayan homeland, the festival's website said.

However the makers of the two Chinese movies viewed it as a "Tibetan independence" film, the Beijing Times said.

It said the Chinese movies included " Nanjing! Nanjing!", also known as "City of Life and Death", about the brutal 1937 capture of the city of Nanjing by Japanese forces.

The other was a short film called "Quick Quick Slow Slow", the paper said.

Officials at the studios that made the Chinese films -- Stellar Megamedia Films and DFM Films Shanghai, respectively -- either declined comment or could not be reached by AFP.

China accuses the Dalai Lama of agitating for an independent Tibet. The Tibetan spiritual leader has repeatedly denied the charges, saying he only seeks greater autonomy for the remote Buddhist enclave.

Earlier this year, the screening of a film about exiled Uighur minority activist Rebiya Kadeer at festivals in Australia and Taiwan prompted either the withdrawal of Chinese films or warnings by Beijing not to show the movie.

The film was screened anyway.

China accuses Kadeer of fomenting unrest in its restive Xinjiang region, home to more than eight million Uighurs, a Muslim minority.