There is a possibility that "Borat" will not be screened in Russia after a local government agency reportedly refused to grant permission for the movie to be shown in theaters across the country.
- Nov 10, 2006
AceShowbiz - Negative reaction on "Borat" apparently still continues out there despite the flick's worldwide success. A government agency in Russia has recently remarked that it would reject granting permission for the mockumentary comedy to be shown in theaters around the country, a local distributor has learned.
According to Vadim Ivanov, theatrical sales director at Twentieth Century Fox C.I.S., the Federal Agency for Culture and Cinematography seemingly perceived the film to have great possibility to offend some viewers due to its material that "might seem disparaging in relation to certain ethnic groups and religions." Russia itself is known to have close political ties with Kazakhstan, whose officials and citizens have seethed at the depiction of their country.
However, chance for "Borat" to see the light in the country as scheduled on November 30 remains possible since the agency turns out to never issue a ban on the movie and only advised the theaters to refrain from playing it, as it stated hours later after the report.
"We sent them a letter saying that we wouldn't recommend the film," said Yury Vasyuchkov, head of the department for licensing movies at the agency. "But I learned from the newspapers that they removed the film from their schedule. There was no official ban."
