Lebanese won't Waltz with their Past, Censorship
Oscar-nominated film "Waltz with Bashir," about the Sabra and Shatila massacres, cannot be shown in Lebanon because of the country's boycott of Israeli products, the information minister said on Thursday.
Ari Folman's animated picture has already won the Golden Globe for best foreign film and was on Thursday nominated for the Oscar for best foreign language film.
Asked whether "Waltz with Bashir" would be screened in Lebanon, Tarek Mitri told reporters: "According to existing law it is illegal to import the film or to project [it]."
The minister, who opposes censorship and has in the past proposed a law to abolish it," said the ban on the film is "absurd because you can download it and see it on You Tube."
"We need to abolish that law so that we can see films like this and any other films and then, if you abolish the censorship law we have, then whoever is harmed can take the matter to court."
Folman, a former Israeli soldier who took part in the invasion of Lebanon in 1982, used animated images of the war in his autobiographical documentary.
Haunted by the memories of the massacres in the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila, the hero Ari sets off on a quest for a past he cannot remember.
"It is a shame that a film critical of Israel is not allowed in Lebanon, especially as it covers a crucial period in history for Lebanese, Palestinians and Israelis," said Monique Borgmann, head of Lebanese voluntary group UMAM.
"I am receiving lots of calls from people who want to see the film," said Borgmann, whose group focuses on the collective Lebanese memory, particularly about the Lebanese civil war.
UMAM organized a private showing and invited 30 people but, as the film had won a Golden Globe, 90 people turned up to see it, she said.
Last year the animated film "Persepolis", about the Islamic revolution in Iran, was forbidden by the Lebanese censorship body before being approved in the wake of public pressure.
