South Africa’s leading cinema operators have withdrawn a documentary about US First Lady Melania Trump from their schedules, just one day before its planned international release.
The documentary, titled “Melania”, was set to hit screens on Friday, 30 January, but disappeared from both Nu Metro and Ster Kinekor cinema chains’ websites on Thursday.
Local distributor Filmfinity confirmed it had made the decision to pull the film, citing “the current climate” as the reason for the abrupt cancellation.
“Given the current climate, the film will no longer be releasing theatrically in (the) territory,” Filmfinity’s head of marketing Thobashan Govindarajulu told News24 on Wednesday.
Govindarajulu did not elaborate on what specific “climate” he was referring to, and the company could not be reached for further comment.
Nu Metro confirmed to AFP that the withdrawal came at Filmfinity’s request.
“The rights sit with Filmfinity, and it’s at their request that we are not releasing it,” the cinema chain said in a statement on Thursday.
The move comes amid ongoing tensions between the South African government and the Trump administration, which has criticised Pretoria’s position on a range of domestic and international policies
President Donald Trump has notably repeated false claims that Pretoria is behind a “genocide” of the white Afrikaans community, which he has invited to settle in the United States.
