HALIFAX — Security guards will be making sure no one takes pictures when a documentary about Tibet is shown during the Atlantic Film Festival.
The documentary What Remains of Us shows Tibetans watching a videotaped message from their exiled leader, the Dalai Lama.
Under Chinese rule, Tibetans can be arrested for simply viewing the message. The filmmakers worry that people featured in the documentary will be identified and persecuted.
Festival organizers will have security guards patrol the aisles during the screening. “We can’t have anyone in the theatre with any kind of recording device that could take an image of someone’s face,” says festival director Lia Renaldo.
“We’re going have people at the theatre doors, people in the theatre. I think people should expect to have their bags checked.”
The documentary was made by Canadian filmmakers Kalsang Dolma and François Prévost, who had to smuggle the videotaped message and their equipment into Tibet.
Similar security measures were put in place when the film was shown in Toronto earlier this year.
