Pakistani movie distributors boycott 'Zero Dark Thirty'
Source: AFP |
January 30, 2013, Wednesday
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Print Edition
PAKISTANI movie distributors and TV stations are boycotting an Oscar-nominated film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden and popular US dramas to avoid offending sensibilities or sparking a violent backlash.
Pakistan may have a starring role in Kathryn Bigelow's "Zero Dark Thirty," which dramatizes the 10-year CIA hunt for the 9/11 mastermind, but local cinemas are steering clear of a film they say could make people feel humiliated.
Similarly, a local cable distributor is blocking transmission of the smash hit dramas "Homeland," starring Claire Danes, and "Last Resort" on the grounds they are against the national interest.
"Zero Dark Thirty" has topped the box office charts in the US and earned five Oscar nods. But in Pakistan, the raid to kill bin Laden is considered one of the blacker incidents in the country's history.
A US Navy SEAL team killed the al-Qaida chief in his hideout less than one mile from Pakistan's premier military academy on May 2, 2011.
"We have not and neither has anyone else bought Zero Dark Thirty," said Mohsin Yaseen, a representative for film distribution company Cinepax.
He described the film as "pro-American," despite controversy in the US over its depictions of so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques," widely seen as torture.
"It has several scenes which could make us feel humiliated. It is against the interests of Pakistani nation," Yaseen said.
The chairman of the Film Censors Board said it had not reviewed "Zero Dark Thirty" because there had been no request to do so.
In 2010 censors banned the Indian comedy "Tere bin Laden," which poked fun at the al-Qaida leader, on the grounds that it could offend Muslims and incite suicide attacks.
Max Media, which has the rights in Pakistan to cable channel Star World, is refusing to transmit "Homeland" and military drama "Last Resort."
While "Last Resort" features US nuclear strikes on Pakistan, the country is referred to only briefly in "Homeland," which stars Damian Lewis as a US Marine who is also a suspected al-Qaida agent.
"We strongly believe that programs such as 'Homeland' and 'Last Resort' are against our national interest, cultural values and ideology," said an official at Max Media who did not want to be named.
Pakistan may have a starring role in Kathryn Bigelow's "Zero Dark Thirty," which dramatizes the 10-year CIA hunt for the 9/11 mastermind, but local cinemas are steering clear of a film they say could make people feel humiliated.
Similarly, a local cable distributor is blocking transmission of the smash hit dramas "Homeland," starring Claire Danes, and "Last Resort" on the grounds they are against the national interest.
"Zero Dark Thirty" has topped the box office charts in the US and earned five Oscar nods. But in Pakistan, the raid to kill bin Laden is considered one of the blacker incidents in the country's history.
A US Navy SEAL team killed the al-Qaida chief in his hideout less than one mile from Pakistan's premier military academy on May 2, 2011.
"We have not and neither has anyone else bought Zero Dark Thirty," said Mohsin Yaseen, a representative for film distribution company Cinepax.
He described the film as "pro-American," despite controversy in the US over its depictions of so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques," widely seen as torture.
"It has several scenes which could make us feel humiliated. It is against the interests of Pakistani nation," Yaseen said.
The chairman of the Film Censors Board said it had not reviewed "Zero Dark Thirty" because there had been no request to do so.
In 2010 censors banned the Indian comedy "Tere bin Laden," which poked fun at the al-Qaida leader, on the grounds that it could offend Muslims and incite suicide attacks.
Max Media, which has the rights in Pakistan to cable channel Star World, is refusing to transmit "Homeland" and military drama "Last Resort."
While "Last Resort" features US nuclear strikes on Pakistan, the country is referred to only briefly in "Homeland," which stars Damian Lewis as a US Marine who is also a suspected al-Qaida agent.
"We strongly believe that programs such as 'Homeland' and 'Last Resort' are against our national interest, cultural values and ideology," said an official at Max Media who did not want to be named.
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