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SYDNEY : A film about Lebanese Australian gangs set amid race riots that rocked Sydney four years ago has been pulled from cinemas in the city after brawls broke out at screenings, its distributor said on Sunday.
One of Australia's biggest cinema chains, Greater Union, withdrew "The Combination" from theatres in Australia's largest city because violence flared among patrons at two cinemas, the Australian Film Syndicate said.
AFS managing director Allanah Zitserman said Greater Union's move was unprecedented and "devastating for everyone involved, especially for the audiences that are now going to miss out".
"Although we do not support the decision by Greater Union to pull the film from its NSW sites, we respect and understand their position," she said in a statement.
The critically-acclaimed film, which began screening at Greater Union cinemas last Thursday, examines tensions between gangs of Lebanese Australian and white youths in Sydney's western suburbs.
It is set in late 2005, when ugly race riots between white and Lebanese Australians flared at the city's Cronulla Beach, sparking a series of retaliatory attacks in which churches, shops and cars were trashed.
The movie uses actual news footage from the riots as it follows the fortunes of a Lebanese Australian man, recently released from prison, who is trying to steer his his younger brother away from ethnic gang violence.
Zitserman compared the film to "Romper Stomper", a 1992 movie about warring gangs of skinheads and Vietnamese migrants in Melbourne that first brought Oscar winner Russell Crowe to the attention of critics.
"(It) is a powerful, critically acclaimed work that has touched a nerve with the Australian public and deserves to be seen by everyone," she said.
The film can still be seen at other cinema chains in New South Wales state, as well as theatres in Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and Canberra.
The ban is the second controversy to hit "The Combination" after it was revealed in January that one of the lead actors, Ali Haider, 19, was facing assault charges over a street brawl and had been in custody since November.
Writer and actor George Basha has said he based the film on his experiences growing up in Sydney's western suburbs, when he and other Lebanese Australians felt rejected by society and responded with violence.
He said he was also inspired to write the script because the only roles he was being offered were either muggers or rapists.
Melbourne Age newspaper said in a review on Saturday before the latest controversy erupted that movies such as "The Combination" needed to be supported, not shunned, by the Australian film industry.
"The film works dramatically, delivering a series of well-aimed emotional gut punches and a pungent message about how ethnic gangs insult the values of the communities they claim to represent," it said. - AFP/ms
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