“I believe that 1942 is the closest that you can get to an Oscar-level film for China because of the censorship.” In this interview, The Hollywood Reporter‘s Scott Feinberg had a chance to ask the celebrated writer/director Feng Xiaogang about censorship in China, as well as his life and career.
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Iranian painter Nicky Nodjoumi left his country in 1980 after an exhibition of his work opened in Tehran. “[The authorities] saw the show and they labeled me as anti-revolution, anti-Khomeini, and anti-regime,” he says. He is now an established artist living in New York.
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“Egypt’s Jon Stewart” is being prosecuted for poking fun at leaked comments by the Defence Minister, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, suggesting that the General would “find partners in the local media willing to collaborate to polish the image of the military.”
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First sentenced in 2011 to life in prison for purportedly criticizing the emir in his poem “Tunisian Jasmine”, Qatari poet Mohammed al-Ajami had his reduced 15-year prison sentence upheld by the Court of Cassation in appeal this October.
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Author and Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie discusses the roots of freedom of expression in the Indian tradition at last session of the India Today Conclave, March 17, 2012. Rushdie is the author of The Satanic Verses, a novel whose import is currently banned in India.
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Recently, racism and religious violence between Buddhists and Muslims have rippled through Burma. The crisis has spilled over to Facebook, where rumors and a widely shared video attacking Aung San Suu Kyi’s supposed support for Burmese Muslims have drastically turned public opinion against her and her party.
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Pakistan’s move to ban access to the gay social networking website Queerpk reflects the conservative society’s inability to accept a “larger world view”, activists say. Keeping with Pakistan’s internet censorship policies, some say the ban is aimed at curbing alternate and progressive discourse.
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