BEIRUT — Lebanese authorities have banned screening of the Iranian film “Green Days,” which deals with protests against the 2009 re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an organiser said on Tuesday.
“We received a call yesterday from General Security informing us they had withdrawn the licence allowing us to screen the film,” Colette Naufal, organiser of the Beirut International Film Festival, told AFP.
“When we asked them why, we were told: ‘This is not our decision, we are only carrying out orders.”
The film was to be screened at the Beirut International Film Festival’s “Forbidden Films Festival”, which showcases previously censored films from June 22 to June 26.
“Green Days” by Iranian film-maker Hana Makhmalbaf, 22, shows raw footage of the violence that erupted when security forces cracked down on protests following Iran’s disputed 2009 presidential election.
Makhamalbaf is the daughter of Mohsen Makhamalbaf, who is close to leading Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi whose green-ribbon-wearing supporters gained international attention for protesting against what they said was a rigged election.
