Middle East News

Barbie is a 2023 UK/US comedy fantasy by Greta Gerwig
Starring Margot Robbie, Kingsley Ben-Adir and Ryan Gosling

Barbie suffers a crisis that leads her to question her world and her existence.

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have banned the movie Barbie from cinema screening.

In Saudi Arabia, the culture ministry's announcement on August 9 cited violations of laws and values, asserting that certain scenes within the film mocked the sanctity of marriage and family, and insulted Islamic beliefs.

Kuwait banned the film in a bid to protect public ethics and social traditions.

Meanwhile there is a lot of pressure in Lebanon to ban the film. Lebanon's culture minister Mohammad Mortada criticised the movie, saying it "contradicts values of faith and morality" by diminishing the importance of the family unit.

The minister is backed by the armed Shi'ite armed group Hezbollah, whose head Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah called on Lebanese authorities to take action against materials he deemed to be promoting homosexuality, including by banning them, and said homosexuality posed an imminent danger to Lebanon and should be confronted.

Talk To Me is a 2022 Australia horror thriller by Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou
Starring Sophie Wilde, Joe Bird and Alexandra Jensen

When a group of friends discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces.

The hit Australian horror film Talk To Me has been banned from screening in Kuwait, reportedly solely over the casting of non-binary trans actor Zoe Terakes, who plays a character whose gender identity is never mentioned in the film.

The Hollywood Reporter first reported on the decision, which they confirmed was based entirely on the presence of Terakes, an Australian actor who identifies as non-binary and trans-masculine.

Terakes issued a statement describing the decision as being:

Targeted and dehumanising and means to harm us.

Our film doesn't actually ever mention my transness, or my queerness. I am a trans actor who happened to get the role. I'm not a theme. I am a person. Kuwait has banned this fim due to my identity alone.

As much as it is very sad to be on the receiving end of this, what is even more heartbreaking is what this precedent means for the queet and trans people of Kuwait . Representation is hope. Representation is a light at the end of the tunnel, a reason to keep going, something to hold onto in the dark, a voice that whispers things can be better than they are. Eliminating trans actors on screens will not eliminate trans people (as much as the government of Kuwait wishes it would) but it will eliminate a lot of hope.

Talk to Me has already released without cuts across all other Gulf territories.

Pride is a 2014 UK gay comedy drama by Matthew Warchus.
Starring Bill Nighy and Imelda Staunton and Dominic West.

There are no UK or US censorship issues with this release however the film has been banned from several showings in Turkey

Istanbul's Sisli District Governor's Office on June 6 banned the screening of an LGBTI+ themed documentary on the grounds that it is against the "constitutional rule." Using the same ban decision, Kadiköy District Governor's Office on June 7 banned the screening of another movie as well, and police detained those who came to the screening.

Kadiköy's District Governor's Office on June 7 banned the screening of the movie titled Pride organized by the Beksav Cinema Collective. The collective stated that they will organize the screening despite the ban. Nonetheless, the police blockaded their building and detained people who came to watch the movie screening and the BEKSAV executives.

The film has been banned before in Turkey when the Ankara authorities also banned screenings in 2018.

Six Gulf states have warned Netflix over content violating Islamic values. The states have threatened Netflix with legal action if it continues broadcasting content that contradicts Islam, while Saudi state media indicated that the offending material centred on shows depicting sexual minorities.

A statement issued jointly by the Saudi media regulator and the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), headquartered in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, did not specifically identify material, referring only to content that contradicts Islamic and societal values. The statement said.

Regional authorities will follow up on the platform's compliance with the directives, and in the event that the infringing content continues to be broadcast, the necessary legal measures will be taken.

The Gulf Cooperation Council includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia , and the United Arab Emirates.