Heremakono wins FESPACO 2003   Best actor and actress awards   Prize winners   Promised Land is a hit   South Africa stronger than ever   Nigerian film debut   What you said on Africa Live   FESPACO winner banned at home   Why not African actors?   Ivorians stay away from FESPACO   FESPACO 2003 Opening Ceremony   Congolese band get the party started   FESPACO prepares for lift off   FESPACO Director invites the stars		Moroccan director Nabil Ayouch wants dialogue not censorship FESPACO winner banned at home The latest film by the 2001 winner of FESPACO's top prize, Moroccan film director Nabil Ayouch, has been banned by the authorities in his country. Soon after Une Minute de Soleil en Moins, was finished, he was asked to make changes by the censors in Morocco. Ayouch told the BBC World Service programme FESPACO Live, “They wanted eight cuts to be made to my film”. But soon the authorities were taking a tougher stance and Ayouch says the Islamic Party in his country asked that the film be banned. State funding that aided the production of the film was ordered to be repaid. Sex and drugs and their depiction in Morocco appear to be what has offended in this film, which revolves around a detective who investigates the murder of a drugs baron. Ayouch does not shy away from either subject. “One of the plots is sexuality, and in particular the feminine side of male sexuality” says the director. Ayouch decries opposition to this theme as hypocrisy and suggests that when Moroccan men learn sexuality, they are learning it hand in hand with homosexuality. But the director, who is based in Casablanca, is incensed that the debate concerning his film has focussed upon sex. “Let’s talk about the corruption in the police, and drugs in the north of Morocco as well” he told FESPACO Live. He claims that the reasons for his film being censored are ambiguous and that he has been warned to “think of your country, and imagine the danger for you and your family’s safety”. But Nabil Ayouch believes strongly that as an artist he does not have to adhere to a government line, and is sad that Une Minute de Soleil en Moins, will not be shown in his own country. While the film has been banned from being shown commercially, Ayouch has been giving private showings and he says that he would welcome members of the Islamist party attending such showings in order to kick off the debate with them.

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