TOKYO -- One more theater has cancelled planned screenings of controversial docu "Yasukuni," while one more has signed on to show it, according to Japanese press reports.
Four theaters in Tokyo and one in Osaka had earlier cancelled screenings of the pic, which was skedded to bow in the two cities on April 12.
Nagoya Cinematheque, a theater in the city of Nagoya, has announced that it is postponing its screening of the docu, which was set for a May 3 bow. A theater spokesman said "We still plan to show (the film), even though theaters in Tokyo have cancelled." No opening date has been set, however.
Also, a civic-run theater in Osaka has announced plans to screen the pic, starting May 7, for a 10-day run. "It's our role to show (a film) if people want to see it. A theater ought to be a place for discussion (on important topics)," Atsushi Matsumura, manager of the 96-seat Dainana Geijutsu Gekijo (Number Seven Art Theater), told reporters. "I wish that theaters in Tokyo, where Yasukuni Shrine is located, had put up more of a fight."
Theaters in Sapporo, Hiroshima and Fukuoka are also still skedded to show the pic.
"Yasukuni," which Chinese helmer Li Ying spent ten years making, examines Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which memorializes the Japanese war dead, including Class A war criminals, and has long been a focus of controversy in Japan and Asia.
Tomomi Inada, a Lower House Diet member belonging to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, led a protest of fellow LDP lawmakers against the pic, claiming it is anti-Japanese and that the Ministry of Cultural Affairs was wrong to contribute $75,000 to its production. Distributor, Argo Pictures complied with the group's demand for a pre-release private screening on March 12, which "Yasukuni" supporters have cited as a form of intimidation.
Inada has since denied that she and fellow LDP members have tried to suppress the pic.
On Tuesday Mizuho Fukushima, the leader of the Democratic Socialist Party, told reporters that "Japan's freedom of expression is in danger. I think all the pressure put (on this film) is strange."
Noting that rightist sound trucks had passed in front of theaters planning to show the pic and that LDP lawmakers had demanded a private screening to determine its "neutrality." "The result has been the cancellation of screenings," Fukushima said.
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