State TV screens extract from banned Long Live Belarus! movie
The film is not allowed in Belarusian cinemas and ignored by state media.
An extract about the Belarusian oath of allegiance was shown in the programme Dia@blog on Belarus 3 on November 3. It was used to describe the problems of speaking Belarusian in the army.
A young soldier decided to swear in Belarusian. The commander was dictating the text of the oath in Russian and the soldier was repeating in Belarusian which confused the officer.
The name of the film (Long Live Belarus!) was not mentioned, Radio Liberty reports. The presenter suggested watching “an extract from a film”. The guest of the programme, associate professor of the department for stylistics and literary editing of the BSU Institute of Journalism Pyotr Zhaunyarovich commented on the video:
"Of course, all state documents should exist in both state languages and every soldier should have the right to swear in their mother tongue.”
The film was shown in cinemas in over 25 countries and won awards at 8 international film festivals. It was not allowed to be shown in Belarusian cinemas and at film festivals.
