by Charles Liu
The NanfangToday, 10:48 AM
China will air screenings of Leslee Udwin’s controversial documentary India’s Daughter at the Beijing Women’s Film Festival this weekend.
The film, currently banned in India, focusses on the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder of a young medical student, Jyoti Singh. India’s Daughter will also be shown in four other Chinese cities in the next few weeks, including Xi’an, Nanjing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.
The documentary was banned in India by authorities who argue the film is “a one-sided, seamy picture about the condition of women in Indian society”. Indian authorities blocked its scheduled March BBC television broadcast by obtaining a court order, and later ordered Youtube to block the video in India.
Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh defended the ban, saying the government “will not allow any attempt by any individual, group or organisation to leverage such unfortunate incidents for commercial benefit.” During the same parliamentary debate, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs M. Venkaiah Naidu spoke of “a conspiracy to defame India.”
As reported by the Times of India, the Chinese screenings of India’s Daughter address the issue of censorship:
The festival is also expected to see a discussion about the film and India’s decision to ban it. [Director Lindsee] Udwin, who has been listed as a speaker at the festival, is likely to take up the issue to an audience of people connected with the film industry across the world besides the Chinese.
2015 has seen a number of films in India get banned or be refused a rating from the Censor Board, necessary for public broadcast. Reasons for banning these films include provoking “unnatural passions” and causing sectarian violence, sexual content, and concerns from the country’s intelligence bureau.
Meanwhile, over the past year, China has banned a number of Western televisions shows from broadcast over the internet whileprohibiting the depiction of smoking, sexual content, or even actors associated with drug use in real life.
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