Iran forces Thai film festival to drop controversial film

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2007

BANGKOK (AFP) — Award-wining Iranian film "Persepolis" has been dropped from line-up at the 2007 Bangkok International Film Festival after pressure from the Iranian embassy, organisers said Wednesday.

The film, which jointly won the Jury Prize at the Cannes film festival in May, was scheduled to screen on the opening night of the 10-day festival in the Thai capital, which begins July 19.

"We have withdrawn Persepolis ... on the request of the Iranian embassy," said Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhaya, public relations director at the Tourism Authority of Thailand, which hosts the festival.

Iranian embassy officials confirmed that they had asked organisers to drop the animated black-and-white film, which tells the story of a young girl growing up in revolutionary...