金學堂英語的部落格

【By MELENA RYZIK／聯合報／張佑生譯】

Maxim Pozdorovkin thought that once he made it past the airport in Moscow, he’d be home free. Mr. Pozdorovkin is a director, with Mike Lerner, of the documentary “Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer,” and after two members of that Russian activist group were released from prison in late December, they all put together a screening of the film in their home country . It was to be the film’s first showing in Russia, and the first time the two group members, Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, were to see the documentary, which traces the story of their collective from little-known artists to wellknown political rebels.

But hours after Mr. Pozdorovkin arrived, with copies of the film secreted in his luggage, the screening, which had been set for December 29, at the Gogol Center, a state-financed theater, was formally banned by an official from the city’s culture ministry. The reason, laid out in a letter that a director of the theater posted online, was that the work’s implicit anti-Kremlin message didn’t belong in a government building, and that it had no cultural merit.

Mr. Pozdorovkin said the idea that it had no cultural merit was especially laughable since “Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer” was one of 15 films that made the Academy’s shortlist for possible Oscar nominations in the documentary category. Amid a roster including family and sports stories, it was also not the only film that made waves internationally for its politically tinged message, a reminder that for all the pageantry, Oscarbound films also shine a light on weighty, often life-threatening situations around the world.

“We’re provocateurs,” Mr. Pozdorovkin said in a phone interview, as he and the women gathered in a supporter’s apartment in Moscow. The ban quickly became a hot topic in Russia: Ms. Alyokhina and Ms. Tolokonnikova were already in the spotlight after their two-year prison sentence, for performing a protest song in a Moscow cathedral, was unexpectedly commuted by the Kremlin.

“The Square,” set around the protests in Tahrir Square in Cairo, may also involve a continuing narrative. The film was retooled often between 2011 and 2013, as the director, Jehane Noujaim, struggled to keep up with the historic uprising in her native Egypt. The final cut won an award at the Dubai International Film Festival in December, but still has trouble playing in the Middle East. It was to be shown at a festival in Cairo in December, but the screening was canceled at the last minute.

“Getting the permit to screen the film was very difficult,” festival organizers said , adding that they were granted authorization but were unable to obtain an Arabic- translated version of the film in time. Some speculated that this excuse was a cover for government pressure.

“The Square” has been shown privately in Egypt, Ms. Noujaim said, and the delay in theatrical release has drawn attention. “It is putting the film on an international stage, so that the authorities in Egypt are starting to get phone calls and questions about why the rest of the world is allowed to see this film about a crucially important chapter in Egyptian history, and it’s not being shown to the Egyptian people,” she said.

“The Act of Killing,” about Indonesian death squads, has been available for free download in that country since September, its filmmakers said. “We want you to screen it, discuss it, distribute it to friends across the archipelago,” the director, Joshua Oppenheimer, wrote on the film’s website. “I made this film in collaboration with over 60 anonymous Indonesians who, like you, wanted to know the truth about their history, and to understand how impunity for past atrocities underpins a present day regime of corruption, thuggery and terror. ”

One of Ms. Noujaim’s subjects, upon learning that the film had made the Oscar shortlist, said : “I just want to run down the street yelling and screaming. I don’t know what to do with myself, because it means that our story, what we are fighting for, will never be able to be squashed or obliterated or suppressed.”

中譯

馬克辛‧帕斯多羅夫斯金原本以為，只要闖得過莫斯科機場這一關，就可算是大功告成了。他和麥克‧勒納是紀錄片《龐克小貓拆政府》的導演。去年12月下旬，俄羅斯維權團體「暴動小貓」的兩名團員出獄後，一行人準備在祖國辦一場電影試映會，這原本會是這部紀錄片首度在俄國播映，也會是兩名團員瑪麗亞‧艾利亞希娜和娜絲狄亞‧托洛柯尼柯娃，首度觀賞這部紀錄片。這部片子追溯她們如何從默默無名的藝人變成聲名大噪的政治異議人士。

但是在帕斯多羅夫斯金帶著行李中暗藏的紀錄片拷貝抵達後數小時，原訂12月29日在政府資助的戲院「果戈里中心」舉行的試映會，正式遭到（莫斯科）市文化局官員的封殺。戲院的某位長官將查禁函公布上網，表示紀錄片隱含的反政府訊息不該在政府建築物出現，影片本身的文化價值也乏善可陳。

帕斯多羅夫斯金說，批評該片的文化價值乏善可陳，特別荒誕可笑，因為《龐克小貓拆政府》已進入美國影藝學院的奧斯卡金像獎最佳紀錄片複選的15強。進入複選名單的紀錄片，有的以家庭或運動為主題，而《龐克小貓拆政府》並不是唯一一部夾雜些許的政治訊息，在國際間掀起軒然大波的作品，這也提醒了世人，奧斯卡影展並非空有華麗的排場而已，問鼎的作品也讓世人清楚認識全球各地的重大情勢，往往也是危及性命的情勢。

「我們是存心鬧事等著被抓的，」帕斯多羅夫斯金與「暴動小貓」團員在支持者位於莫斯科的一棟公寓中接受電話採訪時如是說。紀錄片遭查禁迅速在俄國成為發燒話題：因為在莫斯科大教堂演唱抗議歌曲而遭判刑兩年，艾利亞希娜和托洛柯尼柯娃已是眾所矚目的焦點人物；克里姆林宮給予減刑，則出乎意外。

以開羅「解放廣場」的示威抗議為背景的《廣場》，故事可能還在進行中。電影導演潔涵‧努簡祖國埃及爆發歷史性的起義，她費了很大力氣要跟上事件進度，在2011至2013年間經常改組內容。最後剪好的版本，去年12月在杜拜國際影展得獎，但要在中東放映仍有困難。原訂去年12月在開羅某個影展播映，但最後一刻被取消。

影展籌委會人員說：「取得播映許可非常困難」，還說當局已經批准播映，但電影趕不及取得阿拉伯語翻譯的版本。有人揣測，這可能是掩飾政府施壓的藉口。

努簡表示，《廣場》已在埃及進行過非公開的放映，在電影院的延後播放已引起關注。她說：「這讓電影登上國際政治舞台，埃及當局開始接到電話，詢問為何全球其他地方都可以欣賞這部有關埃及歷史上非常重要階段的電影，埃及民眾卻看不到。」

《我是殺人魔》介紹的是印尼的劊子手，導演約書亞‧歐本海默表示，去年九月起在印尼就開放免費下載。「我要各位播映它、討論它、發布給印尼各島嶼的朋友們。」導演在電影官網上表示：「我和60多位匿名的印尼人合作拍攝這部電影，他們像各位一樣，想要知道歷史的真相，並了解對過去的暴行不予追究，如何鞏固了當今這個貪腐、殘暴、恐怖的政權基礎。」

在努簡紀錄片中出現的一個角色，得知電影進入奧斯卡複選名單後說：「我只想跑到街上去狂吼大叫。我不知道做甚麼才好，因為這代表我們的遭遇，我們奮鬥的目標，將永遠不會被消音、抹滅或隱瞞了。」