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‘Blue Is The Warmest Colour’ comes under fire in Russia

By Josh Haggis

BlueWarmestColour_2741575bBlue Is The Warmest Colour

is under fire in Russia because of the country’s anti-gay propaganda laws – THR reports.

A Russian organisation called the League of Safe Internet has sent complaints to the prosecutor’s office and to the culture ministry, arguing that the award-winning film contains child pornography and promotes homosexuality amongst minors.

The League of Safe Internet’s executive director Denis Davydov told Russian newspaper Izvestia: “The film has plenty of overtly pornographic scenes, which take up most of the screen time. Two women are engaged in lesbian sex, one of whom is a 15-year-old girl. The fact that the actress who plays her is over 18 doesn’t matter. She could as well be 40. The audience views her as a minor.”

Blue is the Warmest Colour was released in 2013 to rave reviews, and follows a 15-year-old high-school student who falls in love with an older art student.

In June 2013, Russia passed laws banning the promotion of “non-traditional sexual relations”, and there has been an increasingly hostile atmosphere towards the country’s LGBT community. The laws have coincided with a large number of vigilante attacks on gay people, which LGBT campaigners say are being ignored by the police.

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