Cambodia bans film about murdered rainforest activist

By John Vidal
21 April 2016 (Guardian) – A documentary about the murder of a rainforest activist has been viewed tens of thousands of times online after being banned by the Cambodian government. The film, I Am Chut Wutty, was due to be shown this week in a Phnom Penh cinema to coincide with the fourth anniversary of the killing of the environmentalist by an unidentified military police officer in April 2012. But the Cambodian Department of Cinema and Cultural Diffusion refused the cinema a licence, stating that the British director had no permission to make the film.

The ban may have backfired, with sections of the Khmer language version of the film being viewed nearly 100,000 times in the last three days and private screenings reportedly being shown across Cambodia. An English version will be released next week. Cambodian human rights and environment groups condemned what they said was suppression of the stories of people trying to save the country’s rainforest. [more]