Iranian producer withdraws movie from Al Jazeera festival

TEHRAN -- Iranian producer Mohammadreza Abbasian withdrew his movie “School” from the 8th Al Jazeera International Documentary Film Festival, due to the silence of Al Jazeera news network against crimes committed by Al Khalifa regime in Bahrain. The movie is an entry in the competition section of the festival running from April 19 to 22 In Doha, Qatar, Persian news agencies reported on Tuesday. The movie depicts a school in Sarajevo that apparently looks peaceful with happy students all around. However, there are horrible stories of events that had happened to the teachers and school staff during the Bosnian war between 1992 and 1995. In a letter addressing director of the festival Abbas Arnaout, Abbasian wrote, “The festival used to be an authentic place to present different ideas. It was the place where my movie ‘Qana’ was awarded a gold medal in 2006. But the Al Jazeera news network has closed its eyes to these crimes. “Despite all the respect I have for you and your esteemed cultural background, I decided to remove the film ‘School’ from the competition section of the festival and I expect you to order that my film will not be screened based on the regulations,” reads part of the letter. “As you know ‘School’ depicts part of Serbia’s violence against the people of Bosnia and I hope we can portray the crimes committed by Al Khalifa regime in Bahrain someday,” the letter ends. Pro-democracy uprisings in Bahrain started on February 14, 2011, and the revolution in the country has not come to fruition yet. The Bahraini people have been calling for their legitimate demands to be fulfilled and want a change in the governing system of the country. However, the Bahraini government has suppressed the demonstrations and a number of protestors have been killed in clashes with security forces.