LONDON: Lebanese security and censorship authorities have banned an Iranian documentary that looks into the Islamic Republic's 2009 election. The documentary, “Red, White and the Green” deals specifically with the violence in the lead-up to the 2009 vote and organizers of the Beirut International Film Festival said on Sunday it was being pulled. “Lebanese censorship authorities on Friday informed us we would have to pull Iranian director Nader Davoodi's film ‘Red, White and the Green' from our program and today we were informed that Davoodi would not be allowed to travel to Lebanon,” said Colette Naufal, director of the Beirut festival, which runs from October 5 to 13, in comments published by NOW Lebanon. The 2010 film, which was to be screened as part of the festival's “Middle East Documentary Film Competition,” focuses on the violent events of the last three weeks leading up to the June 2009 re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Lebanese officials would not return repeated inquiries for more information after Bikyamasr.com attempted to garner a statement. The Shia Muslim Hezbollah movement, a major ally of Iran, leads the governing coalition and many in Lebanon believe they did not want to show Iran in a poor light. The news comes four months after the banning of “Green Days” by Iranian film-maker Hana Makhmalbaf, which shows raw footage of security forces cracking down on protests after the disputed election. Makhamalbaf is the daughter of Mohsen Makhamalbaf, who is close to leading Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, one of Ahmadinejad's challengers in the 2009 election who cried fraud when official results gave him victory in the first round. BM
