A third Chinese director has pulled his movie from an Australian film festival after two other filmmakers backed out to protest the planned appearance of the exiled Uighur activist Beijing blames for inciting recent ethnic violence. Rebiya Kadeer's scheduled visit to the Melbourne International Film Festival on Aug. 8 has already prompted Venice Film Festival winner Jia Zhangke and Hong Kong director Emily Tang to withdraw their movies. Advertising agency Wieden and Kennedy Shanghai said in a statement on its Web site Thursday that it has pulled its short documentary “YB Box” from the Melbourne event. The statement did not mention Kadeer. The festival also announced on its Web site the 27-minute film about three human beatbox rappers from the northeastern Chinese province of Jilin won't be screening but didn't say why. Kadeer, 62, is scheduled to attend a question-and-answer session after a screening of “10 Conditions of Love”, a documentary about her life, on Aug. 8. The Melbourne festival has been besieged by objections to Kadeer's appearance. Jia said her presence will turn the festival into a political event.
