Anthony Kaufman takes on why "
The Band's Visit"
isn't playing in Abu Dhabi, which opened with "
Atonement" and fireworks last night.
After receiving a formal invitation on Sept. 14 from MEIFF programmer Nancy Collet (formerly of AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival), congratulating the film on being accepted into the fledgling event's narrative competition section, they were subsequently uninvited.
Jon Fitzgerald falls on the sword for this one:
But Fitzgerald says he hasn't received any outside pressures. "I had heard coming in that perhaps because of the region, there might be some censorship issues," admits Fitzgerald. "But the senior management gave me unilateral support to choose the films. Nobody has questioned our selections or asked to censor anything. They've given me a clean canvas."
Michael Jones is the film festival editor at Variety.com. 
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