Story Categories: Berlin Berlinale, China, Documentary, Exhibition/theaters, Film, Japan, People,

  Shot over a ten-year period by Chinese helmer Li Ying, the docu deals with personalities and events around Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which honors the souls of the war dead, including Class A war criminals, and has become a lightning rod for controversy both in Japan and Asia. Scenes include protests by families of Asian war victims against the visits of former Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi to the shrine.

  Members of parliament belonging to Koizumi's ruling Liberal Democratic Party have questioned the use of $75,000 (Yen7.5 million) in government coin to help finance the pic.

  On March 12 Argo held a screening of the pic for parliamentarians, as the strong request of protesting LDP members. One of them Tomomi Inada, told reporters on Friday that the government should not have backed the pic because its "neutrality is questionable." She denied that the LDP members' objections constituted censorship. 

  Also, rightists made death threats to Li's Tokyo office, starting with the beginning of press screenings late last year, forcing him to move to  protect his staff.

  Argo issued a statement on Monday saying "We perceive a danger to the freedom of expression and the freedom of speech in Japanese society." As company spokeswoman told Variety that the distrib is still searching for theaters and hopes to have screenings in Tokyo. "We haven't given up by any means," she said. She added that Li is  in Beijing after attending the Hong Kong Film Festival.. "It's a very difficult time for him," she said.

  The Directors Guild of Japan, of which Li is a member, issued  a statement of support, decrying LDP pressure as an attempt to clamp down on freedom of expression.  

  Toei subsid T-Joy, which operates the new Wald 9  multiplex in the Tokyo entertainment district of Shinjuku, was the first to officially pull the pic, on March 18.

  A T-Joy spokesman said then the pic "has a lot of controversy surrounding it. If an incident occurs it will cause trouble and hardship to the other tenants in the building." A spokesman for Q-AX Cinema, one of the three in Tokyo to cancel most recently, gave a similar reason to reporters, saying the theater was acting to protect "the safety of its audience," while claiming it had not received threats from "certain groups."