Manhattan Film Festival May Be Cancelled as Ideologists Dislike “Dictatorship” and “Tyranny” in Annotation

Organiser of XIV Manhattan Short Film Festival in Minsk Alla Kurkul said in an interview with TUT.BY that the festival is under the threat to be cancelled as Belarusian ideologists were alarmed by the words “dictatorship” and “tyranny” in a film annotation.

To be precise, short film Two & Two by Iranian-born English director Babak Anvari is described this way. The short film which is called the festivals favourite tells the story of resistance against oppressive regime.

“I hope the situation is pure misunderstanding and after having watched the film they [ideologists] will understand there is nothing seditious in the film as love it very much and I hope it to be included into the festival programme,” Alla Kurkul says.

“The organisers may refuse to hold the festival in Minsk if we remove the film from the festival list. I’m waiting the issue to be solved today and we will watch all the enlisted films and we will enjoy the festival.”

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