Antoinette Engel wrote on Africaisacountry.com:
"I was disappointed, to say the least, because the festival sent
the film to the Film and Publication Board on 10 July and when it wasn't
cleared they tried to bring an urgent application to the board earlier that day
(18 July) but this didn't work. With so short a time for the red tape that must
involve such classifications, DIFF could have done more.
At festivals like the Berlinale pre-screenings are commonplace a
day or two before the official opening for press."
Another problem, say the producers, is the Film Board is not
part of the Arts & Culture Ministry that might have been more supportive,
but anchored in Home Affairs department that polices immigration and is
primarily focused on law enforcement.
In
the apartheid days, the regime prohibited many films like "Black Beauty," Monty
Python's "Life of Brian" and "Cry Freedom."
Some
years back, my documentary Plunder on
the financial crisis was shown at the last minute at a Johannesburg conference
at Witwatersrand University on investigative reporting.
The
response was very positive--but a year later, when I recounted my experience at a
movie industry reception in South Africa, a member of the classification board
who was there, overheard me and demanded to know if I had submitted the film in
advance to their board.
Busted!
Frankly,
I didn't know that you needed government permission for non-commercial
screenings in a university. I was told you most certainly do, and that I was in
violation of some code.
I
dismissed her comment at the time as bizarre bureaucratic overreach, but after
the banning at the festival I can see how much power this Orwellian body
wields.
News Dissector Danny Schechter is in South Africa producing a series of documentaries tied to the forthcoming movie based on Nelson Mandela's autobiography, Long Walk To Freedom. He edits Mediachannel.org and blogs at News Dissector.net.
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