Nigeria’s film board has delayed the release of Half of a Yellow Sun, a film about the Biafran war.<\/p>\n
The film, by Nigerian-born British director Biyi Bandele, was set to open in Nigerian cinemas on Friday.<\/p>\n
A film board spokesman told AFP there were “regulatory issues” with the film but that it wasn’t “officially banned”.<\/p>\n
The film is based on a novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie about the 1967-70 civil war, in which more than a million people died.<\/p>\n
Aliyu Tanko, from the BBC Hausa service, says that more than 40 years after the end of the war, the subject remains extremely sensitive in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
Some fear the film, which is seen as sympathetic to the Biafran separatist cause, could stoke up ethnic tensions, he says.<\/p>\n
The book was released in Nigeria but with the country’s high rates of illiteracy, a film is likely to get more attention.<\/p>\n
Mr Bandele told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme that he wasn’t sure why the censorship board had delayed certification.<\/p>\n
The Nigeria film board saw the film seven months ago, Mr Bandele said.<\/p>\n
“What’s frustrating is we have not received a formal letter from the board telling us we’ve been banned, or that we’ve not been banned,” he added.<\/p>\n
He denied the film was biased and stressed that he did not see how it could incite violence.<\/p>\n
The director also said the film raised issues which Nigeria badly needed to discuss.<\/p>\n
“One of the reasons Nigeria is more divided today – 40 years after the end of the war – than it was before the war started, is because we have refused to talk about the elephant in the room.”<\/p>\n
The film features Twelve Years a Slave actor Chiwetel Ejiofor and Crash star Thandie Newton.<\/p>\n
\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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