Minsk film distributors changed plot of well-known film

Explicit scenes have been cut out from Ulrich Seidl’s film Import/Export (presented at Cannes Film Festival in 2007), screened in Minsk on July 17.

It has been informed by admirers of art-house movies in their blogs, “Novyje Izvestiya” informs. As stated by the viewers, the plot completely changed because of absence of a number of scenes.

The film was to be demonstrated by the association “Kinovideoprokat” of Minsk city executive committee for 4 days, July 17-20, as said by “Kinovideoprokat” director Vasily Koktysh, an expert and artistic council of the Republic of Belarus rated the film as suitable for an audience aged 18 and more. But it happened after tickets had been already sold, so Belarusian distributors had to cut out some scenes which censors didn’t like most, without warning rights owners (a Russian films distribution company “Kino bez granits”). Yesterday the company’s representatives demanded to return the film copy immediately to restore the recording.

Import-Export (2006)

A social drama. An Ukrainian girl goes to Austria to earn some money, while An Austrian guy heads Ukraine for the same reason. She works in a porno business, in a geriatric hospital. He sells video gambling machines and gets involves in some criminal showdown. They never meet or even know about each other. It’s a film not dealing with love, but with living and dying.

Drama.

Director: Ulrich Seidl

Cast: Maria Hofstätter, Ekateryna Rak, Georg Friedrich, Erich Finsches, Susanne Lothar

Country: Austria