MOSCOW – Acclaimed French lesbian film Blue is the Warmest Colour is under attack in Russia for ‘promoting homosexuality’ in minors.
It has come under fire from the League of Safe Internet (LBI), who are encouraging the prosecutor’s office to take action against distributors.
Abdellatif Kechiche's film La Vie d'Adele (Blue Is the Warmest Color), the winner of last year's Palme d'Or at Cannes, is under attack in Russia under a controversial gay propaganda law.
The local organization League of Safe Internet (LBI), has sent complains to the prosecutor's office and to the culture ministry, accusing the film of gay propaganda among minors and containing elements of child pornography.
"The film has plenty of overtly pornographic scenes, which take up most of the screen time," Denis Davydov, LBI's executive director, was quoted as saying by the Russian daily Izvestia. "[Two] women are engaged in lesbian sex, one of whom is a 15-year-old girl. The fact that the actress who plays her is over 18 doesn't matter. She could as well be 40. The audience views her as a minor."
LBI demanded from the prosecutor's office that a probe into the film be launched under the law against gay propaganda among minors, which was adopted last year and is viewed by many as a crackdown on the gay community. The organization also questioned the legitimacy of issuing an exhibition license to the film by the culture ministry.
The theater run of Blue Is the Warmest Color is already over, but if the film were considered in breach of the gay propaganda law, it wouldn't be allowed to be available on online video services or broadcasted by TV networks.
Meanwhile, it's not the first time Blue Is the Warmest Color has come under attack in Russia. In November, a group of people led by local parliament member Vladimir Milonov, tried to disrupt the screening of the film at St. Petersburg's LGBT film festival Side By Side.
0 Comments