Female Beauty

Indonesian government has banned four films on Aceh and East Timor from an international film festival saying that they could “disturb security”, said organisers. All the banned films are internationally-produced and were due to be screened at next month’s Jakarta International Film Festival (JiFFest). However, a Singapore production titled A Hero’s Journey about the life of East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao was passed. The 80-minute documentary is narrated by Gusmao, who led East Timor’s fight for independence from Indonesia.

The banned films on East Timor are; Tales of Crocodiles from the Netherlands, Passabe from Singapore and a 12-minute animation from Portugal on East Timor’s history, titled Timor Loro Sae. A film on Aceh’s struggle for independence by American journalist William Nessen was also banned.
“The Black Road“, a documentary by American freelance journalist William Nessen who was banned from entering Aceh in April, tells the story of the nearly 30-year separatist conflict in Aceh that killed some 15,000 people. Nessen was sentenced to time in prison in August 2003 after a court found him guilty of violating Indonesian immigration regulations in Aceh.

The state censorship agency in a letter to JiFFest organisers recently said that the films “could disturb security and order in the Aceh province and (bilateral relations with) East Timor,” according to JiFFest programme manager Lalu Roisamri. The conflict in Aceh ended after separatist rebel group Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Indonesian government signed a truce last year, partly spurred by the Indian Ocean tsunami that left around 170,000 Acehnese dead or missing.

The four films were also banned last year, JiFFest founder and chairperson Shanty Harmayn told AFP. More than 250 films from over 35 countries are due to be screened at the 8th JiFFest which runs from December 8 to December 17. -source: Reuters-

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