The premiere of a documentary about a Uighur activist that Chinese officials tried to have pulled from Australia s biggest film festival was a sell-out success, organizers said Monday.
The Melbourne International Film Festival called in security guards for Sunday night s premiere of Ten Conditions of Love fearing trouble amid Chinese anger over the film about exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer.
Festival director Richard Moore has accused Chinese officials of trying to bully him into pulling the documentary, while Chinese directors have withdrawn their films in protest and hackers have attacked the festival website.
Event spokeswoman Louise Heseltine said the website remained partially disabled Monday because of the cyber-attacks, in which hackers replaced information with the Chinese flag and left anti-Kadeer slogans.
But she said the screening at a city center cinema was peaceful and the audience response was positive.
No one came to protest or demonstrate against it, she said, adding that efforts to stop the film had only enhanced its profile.
China accuses Kadeer, the US-based head of the World Uighur Congress, of masterminding violent unrest in China s northwestern Xinjiang region on July 5 that left more than 190 people dead. She denies the charges.
Foreign ministry officials in Beijing have said they oppose countries providing Kadeer with a platform to engage in anti-China separatist activities .
The Australian filmmaker behind the documentary, Jeff Daniels, said he was surprised at the strength of the campaign against his film.
I understood that the Chinese government certainly didn t want the film to be screened but I never thought people would put that much pressure on the festival, he told Sky News.
Daniels, who will host Kadeer when the film next screens in Melbourne on Aug. 8, said he was pleased Sunday s premiere was peaceful.
I know emotions are running high at the moment. It s a very dark time for the Uighurs in China and there are a lot of angry people from China on both sides, he said.
So I m very happy that it went peacefully, as a documentary should, and people were able to see different sides of the story.
The Uighurs, a Muslim ethnic minority group who mainly live in western Xinjiang province, complain of political and religious repression under Chinese rule. -AFP
