Australian Film Festival rejects China's request to drop Uighhur doco
Updated
China has tried to stop the Melbourne International Film Festival showing a documentary about exiled Uighur businesswoman and former political prisoner Rebiya Kadeer. The request from the Chinese cultural attache, opens up a new flank in diplomatic tensions between China and Australia, which have focussed on the detention of Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu. Violence broke out last week in China's western province of Xinjiang between local Uighurs and Han Chinese.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speakers: Richard Moore, Melbourne Film Festival director
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MOORE: I was contacted with a request, well a very stern request from a Chinese consular official here in Melbourne, a Ms Chen, who proceeded to very quickly to tell me that I was urged to withdraw the film from the festival and also that I needed to justify my actions for including it in the programme.
LAM: And I understand she's the Cultural Attache, what was it about the film that she didn't like?
MOORE: Well I think there are a number of things, look obviously timing is everything and timing is critical in these types of things and with all the other issues surrounding the China-Australia relationship I think this has to be showing a documentary portrait of Rebiya Kadeer could be seen by the Chinese to be inflammatory. Having said that here's a new documentary by a new Australian filmmaker about a fascinating subject that they'll be a strong demand from our audience who are politically switched on to see.
LAM: And you mentioned something about the tone of her request? What was her tone?
MOORE: I would call the tone strident, if you needed to find a word, not aggressive but insistent. And when I told Ms Chen that I in no way needed to justify our actions, that we're an independent arts organisation and we don't operate like in China, she wasn't very happy. And she was also not very happy that Rebiya Kadeer is coming as a guest of the filmmaker to visit Melbourne and to present her film on the 8th of August. So when I did confirm that this was the case, she went on to list the number of so-called crimes allegedly committed by Rebiya Kadeer, which ranged from tax evasion to being a terrorist.
LAM: As you say Beijing considers Rebiya Kadeer a criminal. Do you fear that there might be Chinese pressure on the Australian government not to grant her a visa to attend the screening?
MOORE: I wouldn't discount that as a possibility. I see in the newspaper today in The Age newspaper today some other Chinese official has come out and supported Ms Chen's stand and said that they still believe the film should be pulled from the film festival.
LAM: Is this a first for you? Have you ever considered dropping a film?
MOORE: Look we're a film festival and those naughty, naughty independent film-makers are always making films with strong opinions. And whether they're about the Uighurs or whether they're about animal rights or whether they're about a range of subjects. So people are often getting passionate and often getting upset about it but I have to say the first approach for us from a foreign government for us to try and change our programming or to censor or to withdraw a film from the programme.
