US Group Calls For Film Boycott Over Human Rights in China

Posted October 28th, 2011 at 7:20 pm (UTC-5)
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A U.S. rights group is calling for a boycott of a U.S. film company because it is shooting a movie in a Chinese city where a leading activist is in prison.

The group, Women's Rights Without Frontiers, says Relativity Media is filming the movie 21 and Over in Linyi, China.

The city is where blind activist Chen Guangcheng is serving time in prison for exposing the fact that the city had 130,000 forced abortions and sterilizations in 2005.

The president of Women's Rights Without Frontiers, Reggie Littlejohn, told VOA that choosing to film in Linyi out of thousands of locations in China is a deliberate insult to Guangcheng and human rights in China.

Littlejohn called on Relativity Media to stop production and urged movie goers to boycott the film if the project continues.

She also said her organization is asking people to wear sunglasses on November 12 — Guangcheng's birthday, in honor of the blind activist.