Melbourne Film Festival

Superficially, it’s an arthouse issue that affects a small number of culture vultures and cineastes who won’t see a movie unless it’s got subtitles.

It’s actually one of the most compelling and alarming stories in Australia today, as it shows how the most pernicious features of a totalitarian regime have been imported into our own country. And we should all be rallying behind its victim, the Melbourne Film Festival, as it tries to defend freedom of expression and assembly in the face of intimidation on behalf of the Chinese dictatorship.

The Punch spoke last night with the director of the festival, Richard Moore, who is trying to manage this event against a backdrop of website hacking, telephone sabotage, suspected surveillance and direct threats, all from supporters of Beijing who want the festival to pull one of its movies and cancel the Melbourne visit by the woman it profiles.

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