Dear Slate, yes there are chocolate bars in China
Lot o' Hotpot: Three Travellers
How AIDS in China is spreading
Shanghaiist Scrabble: We have a winner!
Interview: Kerry Ann Lee, culture shock = inspiration
Thought the whole Rebiya Kadeer movie controversy was over after Chinese filmmakers pulled out of the Melbourne International Film Festival in protest? Apparently it's only gotten more ridiculous.
The move to not have Chinese representation at the fest wasn't enough for some hackers, who decided to attack the MIFF's website, planting a Chinese flag and the words "we love cinema but we hate Rebiya Kadeer. We like peace and we hate East Turkistan terrorist. Please apologize to all the Chinese people" on the site's main page, according to Bloomberg.
“We’ve been told if you go to some Chinese Web sites there are forums telling people to hack into the film festival site,” Heseltine said in a telephone interview. “You can actually see how many attempts there are, and apparently there have been hundreds.”The festival’s Web site is currently displaying only ticketing information, which is run by a more secure server, according to Heseltine. She said this has caused “major inconveniences,” slowing down Web site traffic and making organizers unable to alert filmgoers to any changes.
Unsurprisingly, the hacking definitely didn't change the minds of the MIFF organizers, who told ABC:
"How could we change our mind now?" he said."It just makes our position even, even stronger and we may even consider programming more sessions of 10 Conditions of Love."
Not only that, the attacks have only brought more attention to a movie that most likely would've only garnered a couple back page mentions otherwise and guaranteed its box office success. We're a little boggled that even as the Chinese opinion machine gears up and gets more sophisticated, it (and its netizens) still haven't learned that sometimes the best way to oppose something is to act like it doesn't actually matter.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
post to facebook
Moreover, pulling the Chinese films from the festival is stupid. It only gives Australians less exposure to Chinese filmmakers, who could use some help in burnishing their credentials.
And aside from making people much more interested in seeing the movie (Who had ever heard of it before this ruckus?), the opposition to the film will probably help the Melbourne International Film Festival, which is now thrust into an international spotlight and can play the saint for not caving to censorship -- an enviable high road in creative industries.
Were they MIFFed?
Why gave it so much publicity while it is a film so ignorant that it called Xinjiang before 1949 as an "independent coutry".
China shud have kept quiet on this issue and not generate publicity for Rebiya. Of course, the movie is made by an Australian documentary maker who beautifies Rebiya, without any clue of the historical context of Xinjiang. Rebiya not only took full advantage of the 1-child rule waiver, she went on to have 11 kids. Not only that, she was a well known swindler in her business practices, even her relatives were swindled.