Robert Crombie's Sappho
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Robert Crombie finds his movie, Sappho, under attack:
The encounter was brought about by his new film, Sappho, which opens in Russia on May 8 after a successful box office run in Ukraine last month. At a press conference in the Ukrainian capital just before the release of the film, Crombie had to respond to accusations by the leader of the influential local Embassy of God church, Nigerian-born Sunday Adelaja, that his film was immoral. The pastor admitted that he hadn’t seen it. But when Crombie stood up to try and explain himself and the intentions of his film, his attempt at dialogue didn’t work. Crombie was ejected from the premises.
“I was astonished at the level of the hatred in that room,” Crombie said later. Adelaja’s criticism centered on the film’s elements of homosexuality — Sappho was an ancient Greek poet who wrote on passion for both sexes, and Lesbos, the island where she was born, is the origin of the word “lesbian.” Crombie felt his work had been misunderstood: “It was like the sky had fallen in. I didn’t feel I had made a gay film, but rather a film about love.”
