Lebanon will let cinemas show Stephen Spielberg's latest film "The Post" after the interior minister ruled on Wednesday against a request to ban it over the director's links to Israel.
The Lebanese government's Film Oversight Committee said Sunday that Spielberg was blacklisted over the fact that several scenes from his 1993 movie "Schindler's List" had been filmed in Jerusalem.
Lebanese Activists had also campaigned against the film because Spielberg gave financial support to Israel during the 2006 Second Lebanon War.
But Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk said he saw "no obstacle preventing the film from being shown because it has nothing to do with Lebanon or the conflict with the Israeli enemy."
George Hanna, head of the publications department in the ministry's general security branch, said the committee could recommend films be banned if they constitute positive propaganda for Israel, among other reasons.
"The Post" dramatizes the 1971 battle by American newspapers to publish leaked documents, known as the Pentagon Papers, concerning the U.S. government's role in the Vietnam War.
In 2017, Lebanon banned two films but permitted 317 commercial and 766 festival films to screen, Hanna said.
This year, it has already banned another film, "Jungle," pulling it from cinemas after several days of screenings. It is based on a book by a former Israeli Navy serviceman about his travels in the Amazon rainforest.
Last year Lebanon banned the Hollywood blockbuster "Wonder Woman" because it stars Israeli actress Gal Gadot, who served in the Israeli military.
Bassam Eid, product manager for Empire Cinemas in Lebanon and distributor of "The Post," said social media campaigns have started to put more pressure on Lebanon's government over films.
