Two films no longer showing at The O.P.E.N.

Writer: Florey DM

A still from the film, "A German Youth".

22 June – Movie fans who have purchased tickets to The O.P.E.N. expecting to see a stellar lineup of international films were left disappointed when two movies, "Tony Manero" and "A German Youth", had to be pulled from the movie listing.

The former, a 2008 film by Chilean director Pablo Larrain, was originally slated to be screened on 20 June. There was no replacement screening for it last Saturday.

The latter, a 2015 documentary by Frenchman Jean-Gabriel Periot, which was supposed to be screened on 24 and 27 June, had been replaced with additional screenings of Larrain's 2010 film "Post Mortem" this Wednesday, and Joao Pedro Rodrigues and Joao Rui Guerra da Mata's 2012 film "The Last Time I Saw Macao" on Saturday.

"Singapore International Festival of Arts believes in respecting the integrity of the directors' vision and craft. We will not screen a film with edits," said festival director, Ong Keng Sen, as quoted by The Straits Time.

"Tony Manero" follows a man obsessed with ohn Travolta's "Saturday Night Fever" character.

The decision to pull the films came after the Media Development Authority (MDA) requested for cuts to be done on some of the scenes.

The scenes in question are the oral sex scene in "Tony Manero", which the organisers stated is ""necessary in the context of the film", and a scene depicting how to make a Molotov cocktail in "For A German Youth", which Ong rejects as it contains "general knowledge which is immediately and readily accessible on the Internet."

"We are upholding the festival, in line with international standards, as a space of freedom of expression, which is different from a commercial release. Sadly, our audiences will have to see these films abroad," said Ong.

Feature-length documentary "A German Youth", which was screened at this year's Berlin Film Festival, is set in the '60s where the post-war generation started revolting, it focuses mainly on the Baader-Meinhof group.

The multiple award-winning "Tony Manero" is the first film in a trilogy about Chile during dictator Augusto Pinochet's reign. The second and third films, "Post Mortem" and "No", will still be screened at the festival.