The highly controversial and high profile documentary A Jihad for Love - the world's first feature-length film about Islam and homosexuality - has been banned by the censors from being shown at 21st Singapore International Film Festival (SIFF) where some 200 films will be screened.
The festival organiser told the Straits Times on Saturday that he was informed of the ban on Thursday over the phone by the Media Development Authority which oversees the censorship board.
A Jihad for Love was filmed over five years and in nine languages by India-born and raised director Parvez Sharma who travelled the world from India to Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa and France to interview devout Muslims who are lesbian, gay or transgender to speak about their faith and their sexuality. In the film, a gay South African imam argues that homosexuality is not banned while another imam rebuts his view.
The paper quoted the chairperson of the board of Film Censors Amy Chua as saying that the film was "disallowed in view of the sensitive nature of the subject that features Muslim homosexuals in various countries and their struggle to reconcile religion and their lifestyle."
About 14 percent of Singapore's 4.4 million population is Muslim.
According to traditional interpretations of the Quran, homosexuality is strictly forbidden and officially carries the death penalty in some Muslim or Muslim dominant countries including Iran, Saudi-Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Mauritania, Sudan and Nigeria.
Three other documentaries were banned from the censors: Arabs And Terrorism and David The Tolhildan, were "disallowed on account of their sympathetic portrayal of organisations deemed terrorist organisations by many countries;" while Bakushi, a film on a Japanese form of sexual bondage involving elaborate rope patterns was disallowed because it "normalises unnatural fetishes and behaviour," Chua said.