The Philippines allows the screening of the film "Barbie" with conditions

Philippine authorities announced on Wednesday that they have approved the screening of the American film "Barbie" in cinemas, on the condition that the distributing company obscures a map showing areas that China claims sovereignty over in the South China Sea.

The film, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, is scheduled to be released in the Philippines on July 19.

After reviewing the film twice and consulting with officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and legal experts, the government committee responsible for reviewing films and television works announced that they would allow the film to be screened in cinemas.

Philippine authorities began reviewing the film "Barbie" last week after it was banned in Vietnam due to scenes featuring a map depicting areas that China claims sovereignty over in the South China Sea.

However, after a careful viewing of the film, Philippine authorities pointed out that the "cartoonish map" does not show what is known as the "nine-dash line" that China uses to assert its extensive claims over most of the resource-rich sea. Instead, it depicts the imaginary journey of Barbie into the "real world," the committee explained in a statement.

In a letter addressed to a Filipino senator who criticized the film for "violating the rights of Filipino fishermen," the committee confirmed that they had requested Warner Bros. Studios to "obscure" the controversial dotted lines on the map.

The committee stated that the dotted lines, drawn in a style "resembling a child's drawing," appear in several places on the map that is supposed to represent Europe, North America, South America, Africa, and Asia.

The committee only found eight dotted lines on the map, supposedly representing "Asia."

In the same letter, the committee noted that the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia were not present on the map.

Warner Bros. has not responded to requests for comment from Agence France-Presse, but a spokesperson for the company confirmed that the map is a "coloring book-style illustration similar to a child's drawing" and was not intended to express any position, as reported by Variety magazine.




AFP