For the second year in a row, the Venice Film Festival in Italy is siding with China by erasing the existence of Taiwan, with the festival’s official programming referring to the independent country as “Taipei,” the capital city.
The erasure of Taiwan comes as festival leaders hypocritically announced this week that they are supporting politically oppressed filmmakers in countries including Iran, Turkey, and Ukraine. In their announcement, organizers made no mention of China, whose communist leaders have punished numerous filmmakers throughout its history.
This year’s Venice Film Festival is set to kick off August 31 with a host of Oscar hopefuls making their world premieres, including Netflix’s White Noise, starring Adam Driver, and Blonde, with Ana De Armas as Marilyn Monroe. Director Darren Aronofsky will present his first film in five years — The Whale, starring Brendan Fraser.
The festival’s official selection includes three new short movies from Taiwan — The Man Who Couldn’t Leave from director Chen Singing; All That Remains from director Craig Quintero; and the animated Red Tail from director Wang Fish.
In all three cases, the festival refers to their country of origin as “Taipei.”
Watch below:
Last year, festival organizers were reportedly pressured by China to not use the word “Taiwan” in its programming. One of the festival’s big premieres last year was with the Hollywood blockbuster Dune, which was financed by the China-owned Legendary Pictures.
This year, there are no major Chinese titles in the festival’s official selection. The festival didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Breitbart News.
Follow David Ng on Twitter @HeyItsDavidNg. Have a tip? Contact me at dng@breitbart.com
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