Naharnet - Censors Seek to Delay Screening of Pro-Opposition Iranian Film over Ahmadinejad's Visit - October 9, 2010

Lebanese censors have asked a film festival not to screen a film on Iranian opposition protests during a visit by the Islamic republic's president next week, the festival's director said on Saturday.

"The film 'Green Days' has not been banned, but the censorship authorities have asked us to postpone the two screenings because of the Iranian president's visit," the Beirut International Film Festival's Colette Naufal told Agence France Presse.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad begins a two-day visit to Lebanon on Wednesday, the first day director Hana Makhamalbaf's documentary was to have been shown at the festival.

Her film is about protests that followed Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in June 2009, and features raw footage of the violence that erupted when Iranian forces cracked down hard on the demonstrators.

Makhamalbaf, 22, is the daughter of Mohsen Makhamalbaf, who is close to leading Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi whose supporters wore green as a sign of protest against what they said was a rigged election.

"Green Days" also featured at the 2009 Venice film festival.

Many directors, writers and artists supported Mousavi during last year's presidential election.

Prominent Iranian director Jafar Panahi spent more than three months in prison this year for trying to make a film about the 2009 opposition protests.(AFP)