A planned screening in Rangoon this week of the film Twilight Over Burma, based on the true story of Prince Sao Kya Seng, from Hsipaw and his Austrian born wife Inge Sargent, was cancelled after government authorities banned the film citing “national reconciliation”.
The story focuses on Sargent who became the princess of Hsipaw also known as the Mahadhevi Dhusandi and her marriage with the prince who was jailed when General Ne Win launched a coup d'état in 1962.
As the film, which is the first to explore the events surrounding Burma's 1962 coup, shows Sao Kya Seng died in detention shortly after his arrest under circumstances that have never been fully explained.
Despite the fact that more then 50 years have elapsed since Sao Kya Seng's death government officials deemed the topic of the film as too sensitive and blocked the film from being screened as part of this week's Myanmar Human Rights Film Festival.
An official from the Ministry of Information's (MOI) 15-member film review committee told the AFP news agency that screening the film could cause difficulties.
The deputy chairman of the MOI's film review committee, Thida Tin, said: "We were worried and afraid that unnecessary problems could arise because of this (film) while we are working on achieving national reconciliation."
The film was well received by members of the Shan community in northern Thailand who attended a screening of the film in Chiang Mai last month.
