Is “Black Swan” banned in Qatar?
Has Qatar banned the movie "Black Swan" and at the same time promotes cinema industry?
"Qatar has launched the Doha Film Institute (DFI), an establishment seeking to build a sustainable film industry in Qatar with strong links to the international film community.
“Films can do more than just entertain. They can educate, inspire and unite communities and we want to nurture and support filmmakers as we continue to grow Qatar as a cultural hub for film,” Shaikha Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, DFI founder and board chairwoman, said."
source: http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/qatar/doha-film-institute-to-build-film-in...
Something wrong with this contradiction!!!!!
O_o
well, departure hall is open. please do not hesitate to leave soon
don't like it ? then go back to where you came from !!! so simple
What does u want,
How can you compare the degree and extent of controls that non elected government have over people who have never experienced full extent freedom, with societies where you can decide what to watch and how you do it?!
I have no clue why so many people embrace denial and insist in pretending that everything here is cool and equal to any democratic developed western country. (Maybe their dependency in the income they found here has a say on the degree of their brown noses or maybe it's just a “brotherhood” necessity!).
One thing is banning movies (I am totally against Big Brother’s and 1994 Orwell’s approach) and assuming it, the other thing is promoting Cinema Festivals (obviously for the wrong reason) and at the same time banning and censoring movies.
Contradiction and some hypocrisy - this is Qatar right now!
As you said, nothing will last forever and for sure Qatar as it stands today, won’t have a long way to go!
Anyway, enough of discussing this here as obviously we will also go nowhere (until we leave the departure hall ;)
how do u know it's forever?? how about we wait and see.. unless you plan on living forever.. you can't tell!
my point is ... many countries do ban movies.. west or east.. some countries do it more than others! commericals are banned.. scenes are cut..
I'm not defending the act.. I'm just saying that it's not rare! and since Qatar is new in all this.. it is bound to change!
In fact all the films you have linked to there are not banned in the US, only briefly suspended from release.
The gulf bans films forever and cuts the rest to pieces!
every country, even the U.S banns movies for one reason or the
other...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banned_films#United_States
you might argue that most movies on the above list are old and nowadays barely any movies are banned.. but that's excactly why we should give Qatar a break.. it's new in all this industry.. i mean how old are these cinemas here in Qatar?? sooner or later all these bans will go away.. and I'm sure they will get around it soon! they want to make all movies PG.. but I think before we know it.. they will realize it's kind of impossible to do that!
I've heard that Black Swan is banned because of a heated s e x scene between 2 women... not sure if that's right!
its mean, not of worth to watch, at the end U'll scratch your balls.
Hmmm i've downloaded the movie like a week back and still have not got around to watching it. may be this weekend.
i did not have chance to watch bumfight bcaz it was banned in canada
Pilgram,
Just came back from the greener side of the fence and watched "Love and Other Drugs".
It’s not a 7th art master piece but it’s some how educative!
It deals with Parkinson disease and your comments above, almost makes me doubt that you actually watched it until the end!
There are a lot of sex scenes but they do have a purpose in conveying the movies' message: how can Parkinson disease be dealt with from the sick person’s perspective as well as from their loved ones’!
I am surprised that you were mislead by its deceived lightness and couldn’t get anything out of it, besides its crappiness!
But then again perceptions are personal and at least you did have the chance to watch it and express your opinion about it. Many here don’t have that chance because a bunch of idiots think that they can dictate what people can see and how they can see it!
I guess each to their own. At least in Qatar you have a chance to see something, in Saudi nada. Just one more freedom denied to the people there.
Movies - a waste of time and money....
wat is zionist and :( i realy wanted to watch that!!! dag nabit!!
the hate team on the run again !
When I expose these issues it's not because they affect me directly. I am lucky enough not to rely on Qatar to be in touch with the world.
There is a tremendous lack of concern with the public’s (aka laborers) welfare here in Qatar. People only complain about what affects them personally and they often forget others (those with greater needs)!
This is not about me or about you QLers who can access a computer and express our views or download any censored movie, its about those who have no other options and who can’t access the full movie via legal or illegal ways.
It’s about the principle (in this case the lack) of universal right to choose what to watch and what to read!
I have seen this movie, in the same way I see all other movies – never in Qatar or in any other GCC countries, as they rarely show 100% of what the movie director produced. They show you what they want you to see and you won't notice that invisible control!!! (sounds good to you!?)
A movie is a piece of art produced by artists – the director and his team including the actors!
Go and ask these movie director’s how they feel about getting their movie chopped or censored!
How is this censorship fit into promoting cinema as a form of free art expression? O_o
The hypocrisy here is at an unbelievable level!
Genesis,
Inform your self better and then come back to us!
sigh, was waiting for that movie.....
@qatarisun I was being sarcastic.
the only thing I dislike in "Black swan" is that they outraged over the "Little Swans dance", which is a holy piece of Art. Such classic things as “Little Swans dance” can not be changed under any circumstances. Turn the whole world over, but leave “Little Swans dance” in its pristine state.. :)
I don’t understand what is so contradicting in here.. yes, they say “… [films] can educate, inspire and unite communities and we want to nurture and support filmmakers as we continue to grow Qatar as a cultural hub for film..” .. but at the same time they want to control what type of education and inspiration the movie provides.. they want (and it’s their right) to be a cultural hub for the movies which reflect their life values, their ideological concepts, their cultural priorities.. nothing wrong with that. That’s what they want to be and you cannot change them, no need to change. Just download this great movie from Torrents, and enjoy it. I love Natalie Portman, she is a great actress.. Have you seen "Leon the professional" with Jean Reno? Natalie was 13-14 years old there.. absolutely fabulous movie, absolutely remarkable Natalie..
volleygirl5, she is NOT zionist, she is other way around, she lives in USA.
Just because it's not shown yet at the cinemas, it doesn't make it banned. Cinema releases differs from a country to another
Black swan still is not released in many countries
Censoring is one thing, banning i doubt that. It's the distribution companies that decides whether to screen a film or not. Allow me to remind you that we don't have an " information ministry" unlike neighboring countries. Goverment Censorship Department in the ministry of culture is limited on written media.
I don't see how is all this contradicts with promoting a local cinema industry.
Plus have you even been to DTFF? Most films shown were from our region and very few western art house films
if they do show it there, they'd probably cut some scenes...
I agree completely Nic. But hey, that's what BitTorrents is for isn't it ;)
Pilgram,
I am sure you agree with me that no matter what one may think about a movie, why not leave it to the individual to judge it or to decide if its worth it the ticket price.
In Qatar’s case its ironic the guts to ban, censor and hide it and at the same time to promote the cinema industry!
LOL ES. I'm sure you and most men would enjoy it! Me, not so much. :)
2 hours of Anne Hathaways boobs are not to be sniffed at..... well actually that doesn't sound too bad...
Does it matter who or what she is?
If they don't screen it here, a big loss for moviegoers. Loved her potrayal of the insecure ballet dancer. A must watch movie I say
She's Jewish and dating a Rothschild, so I suppose some would argue that makes here a zionist. Hard to get zionism out the film, but I am sure the Iranian leadership on it.
I wouldn't worry about "Love and Other Drugs" what a load of crap. They should have renamed it 2 hours of Anne Hathaways boobs and cut the pretense of a plot altogether.
However Black Swan was brilliant. Shame they aren't showing it.
Maybe they were shocked to see that portMAN is actually a woman so they banned the movie as it stars a cross-dresser.
is it because Portman is a zionist?
The censors here must be really perverted with all that bad stuff they have to watch.....
Uranus1,
That’s another thing,
Not only they ban it but they also conveniently keep it secret.
Hypocrisy in 3rd degree!
At least in Dubai, they announce it:
http://gulfnews.com/arts-entertainment/film/two-upcoming-hollywood-films-banned-in-uae-for-explicit-content-1.741263
"Love and Other Drugs" will also be banned.
both films will be released in other Middle Eastern markets such as Lebanon (where people can think for them selves and take their own decisions and where cinema is seen as art, not yet the case here!)
How do you know it is banned?
Worse than banning a movie, is to do so and at the same time having the hypocrisy of promoting the cinema industry!
Paying millions to bring the Tribeca Film Festival (or the attention it attracts) and at the same time censoring and slashing off entire movies, this is something!!!!!!!
Not surprised as I have never seen so much hypocrisy on open display like in this region!
The pressure to appear perfect versus the human nature, results in this!
you kidding right.......
They cut out scenes with kissing in the cinemas how much of the movie will be left after the editing?
Will it even be worth watching then?
I thought it is a stupid movie about ballet dancing. Whom did it offend?
there is a lot of things banned in different countries even though they claim to to support freedom of expression
Why have they banned the movie?