A Turkish website is protesting against Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan's new film Ararat claiming it distorts history and misrepresents Turkish actions.
Tipped to premiere in competition at Cannes, the film tells the story of a present-day ethnic Armenian director filming an historical drama about the 1915 uprising of Armenians and their repression at the hands of Turkish militias.
Armenians claim that more than one million Armenians died during the uprising. The Turkish government dismisses the charge of genocide. A flashpoint in the film is one scene - inspired by an Armenian poem - in which 20 young Armenian brides are forced to dance and then set aflame.
The website Forsnet has made available for downloading a form letter directed at Walt Disney Co. and its subsidiary Miramax, the film's US distributor.
The letter reads in part: "Your actions run the serious risk of motivating me and other Turkish audience to see other companies' films instead of Miramax and Walt Disney productions."
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