'Matir' helmer urges ban end

Pic opened Directors' Fortnight, ran four weeks in France

By BRYAN PEARSON

DHAKA, Bangladesh -- Bangladeshi helmer Tareque Masud, whose "Matir Moina" (The Clay Bird) was honored at Cannes, urged the government to lift its monthlong ban on the pic in his home country Tuesday.

"Masud hopes the film that earned Bangladesh international accolades will get a positive verdict by the appeal board so that people of the country can watch it," a rep for the director said.

The movie, which portrays life in an Islamic seminary, or madrassa, kicked off the Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival in May, but was banned by censors who said it "hurt the religious sentiment of one section of the society."

"Matir Moina" has run for four weeks in France.

Masud, who spent eight years at a madrassa until Bangladesh's bloody 1971 war for independence from Pakistan, said the ban would give the world the wrong message.

"As a former madrassa student, I have portrayed religious tolerance and liberalism in Bangladesh, besides countering the negative image of such schools in the West," he said.