SABC backs down after gay movie backlash

SA lesbian lifestyle website mambagirl.com reported recently that Top Billing had cancelled an interview with film-maker Shamim Sarif “at the last minute”, citing concerns about the film’s subject matter.
But the backlash from gay activists seems to have changed Top Billing’s tune and representatives for Sarif said yesterday that the SABC had changed its stance on Friday and confirmed that it would interview the film-maker
The interview took place just hours before Sarif was due to leave Johannesburg.
Sarif told the Cape Times that “after some intensive lobbying by local gay and lesbian press and groups, Top Billing did interview me two hours before I left for the airport in Johannesburg”.
“We are happy that Top Billing bosses were open to our concerns and that they have agreed to publicise the film.”
It is not known when the insert will be aired on Top Billing.
Mambagirl reported that representatives for Sarif were told by one of the show’s producers that the provisionally booked interview had been cancelled because “the controversial content/synopsis … is not in line with what Top Billing covers”.
The World Unseen swept the boards at last week’s South African Film and Television Awards, bagging 11 awards.
The film is set in the Indian community during 1950s apartheid South Africa and tells the story of the relationship between Miriam, a married woman and mother, and the free-spirited Amina.
In an interview with mambagirl, the managing director of Tswelopele Productions, which produces Top Billing, said accusations of homo-phobia levelled against the company by gay rights activists were “absurd”.
Mambagirl said Tswelopele managing director Patience Stevens had confirmed that the interview with Sarif was cancelled because The World Unseen’s content was not seen as suitable for Top Billing’s target audience.
Stevens told Mambagirl: “It’s a family programme, with a family audience. We did consider doing an item on the Shamim Sarif movie, The World Unseen, precisely because of the movie’s success — but it would be impossible to cover the movie without dealing with the subject matter in a fairly detailed way.”
According to the Internet Movie Database website, The World Unseen is rated PG-13 for “mature thematic material involving sexuality, and violence”.
Stevens did not respond to several requests for comment yesterday.
Gay rights activist Melanie Judge slammed Stevens’s defence of Top Billing’s original stance.
“Who is ‘the family’ in South Africa? There are many forms of family,” Judge said.
She said broadcasters had “a responsibility to reflect the diversity of family units in South Africa”.
“Top Billing’s original decision is shocking, appalling. Silencing people’s voices is a form of prejudice.”         —IOL