Nov 18, 2006, 13:53 GMT
Tehran - Iranian censors cut an entire hour from the US Academy Award winning film The Last Emperor (1987) by Bernardo Bertolucci before screening it for the public, the news agency ISNA reported Saturday.
The film has been dubbed into Persian for public screening but 60 out of the total 160 minutes have been removed, the head of the dubbing team, Jalal Maqami, told ISNA.
'I felt sorry for the film when I saw the censored version, even the content has to some extent changed (due to the censoring),' Maqami said.
Scenes containing nudity, kissing and other acts considered immoral by Iranian cultural officials are censored in Iran, sometimes interfering with viewers following the film's story.
'Either the policies in this regard should be revised or such important films should not be screened at all,' Maqami said.
Uncensored pirated DVD copies of Western films, some with Persian subtitles provided by Iranian expatriates, are easily available on the Iranian blackmarket for less three dollars.
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