The film control department of the Home Ministry has decided to allow screening of the controversial Taiwanese movie 'I don't want to sleep alone' with two conditions.

According to sources, the department had sent a letter to the Malaysian distributor of the film yesterday stating that firstly, the film can only be screened at selected 'art houses' in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor.

The distributor must submit their choice of 'art houses' to the ministry within seven days.

Secondly, the film must undergo editing according to a circular by Malaysian film censorship board dated Jan 31, 2007.

Four scenes involving kissing, nudity, bathing and exposing of the buttock have to be snipped. A portion of the subtitles will be edited as well.

The letter to the distributor was dated March 8 and issued by the Film Control Department. It said the decision was made after the meeting conducted by the Malaysian Film Appeal Committee yesterday.

Malaysian director

The film was produced by Malaysian-born film director Tsai Ming Liang. He had received a letter from the ministry in January informing him that the film was banned because it negatively reflected the country's capital, Kuala Lumpur.

Such 'negative portrayals' of the city would affect the present Visit Malaysia Year 2007 campaign, said the letter.

The letter also cites eight 'negative portrayals' found in the film:

Local youngsters cheating and beating up immigrants

Indifference of locals towards plight of immigrants

Number of beggars found in the city

Air pollution index reaching 650 and depicting city dwellers using plastic bowls, bags and masks to cover their nose and mouth

Poor people recycling discarded mattresses

Cramped unhygienic residential area

Abandoned construction sites

Large population of illegal immigrants

Bittersweet feeling for distributor

The movie distributor, Leonard Tee felt both happy and surprised over the latest developments.

He was glad that the appeals committee had approved the film to be screened but was surprised by the conditions imposed.

"How many 'art houses' can be found in Malaysia?" he asked, responding to the first condition required by the department.

Leonard also lamented that if the required editing of scenes be done, there would be 'nothing left' of the movie.

"We don't want to show this movie in an incomplete form, where the movie become nothing to share with the audience due to the edits," he told malaysiakini when contacted.

However, he said that since Tsai was still in Taiwan, the decision on whether to edit the movie still lie in the hands of the director.