Following the controversy last month over the Melbourne Film Festival's decision to include noted activist Rebiya Kadeer's film The 10 Conditions Of Love, a documentary about the Uighur people, China has warned officials at the Taiwan International Ethnographic Film Festival not to "stir up trouble". They have responded by dropping the film from their schedules - but showing it a week early instead.
The 10 Conditions Of Love focuses on Ms Kadeer's own family and their experiences as campaigners for the Uighur cause. Three of her children are currently in prison and she has spent five years in prison herself. China considers her a terrorist and blames her, in part, for the recent violence in Xinjiang province. She now lives in the US.
The Melbourne film festival refused to withdraw the controversial film, with its director calling the Chinese protest "bullying". Within hours of the decision being made, the festival's website was taken out by a cyber attack believed to be of Chinese origin.
A spokesperson for the Taiwanese festival has stated that the decision to screen the film earlier than scheduled is an attempt to bring the controversy to a close as speedily as possible. The film will be shown four times in all.
