The best Borat news of the week — banned in Russia. “The film contains material that some viewers may consider offensive to certain nationalities and religions,” Federal Agency for Culture and Cinematography minister Yury Vasyuchkov has explained to local press.
Variety‘s Moscow correspondent Tom Birchenough has reported that the ban “is likely the first time that a non-pornographic movie has been banned [in Russia]…plenty of hard-core porn movies succeed in being licensed by the agency.”
Local distributor Gemini had intended to give Borat “a medium-range release” starting on 11.30. Gemini spokesperson Alexander Kovalenko told Birchenough he was still considering whether to [try and] release the film. The story said that distributors “have the option to appeal the licensing decision √ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√¢‚Ǩ¬ù though it would likely prove a fruitless task [in this instance].”