Global Voices Online

Sudanese Reem Shawkat writes on Mideast Youth about the “brainless comedy” in Egyptian movies.

The View from Fez reports that the Marrakesh Film Festival plans to screen a record 44 films from South Korea this year.

Several regional branches of the Indonesian Ulema Council want to ban the movie ‘2012′ claiming the film's content is “unsuitable to be viewed by Muslims because only Allah knew when the world would end, not heathens like the Mayans.”

“Hatta Yoichi” (八田與一) is a Japanese animated film about a Japanese engineer who was responsible for the development of irrigation systems in southern Taiwan. Sponge Bear comments on an article discussing how Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou has used the release of the movie to improve relations between Taiwan and Japan.

Kamla Bhatt reviews a documentary of Sarah Singh (New York), The Sky Below, which looks at the partition of the Indian sub-continent in 1947 and “how it impacted the people and communities on both sides of the border: India and Pakistan.”

Dr. Filomena and Profy are musing on what it means to be a blogger.

Top Nigerian film star, Nkem Owoh, has been kidnapped: “Mr. Owoh is one of the top Nollywood actors mainly due to his role in the blockbuster movie ‘Osuofia’. He was kidnapped along the Enugu – PortHarcourt Expressway and his kidnappers have reportedly demanded a 15 million naira ransom.”

Nash Holos writes about Yury Luhovy's new documentary on the Ukrainian famine of 1932-33.

Siberian Light writes about the 3rd Russian Film Festival, which begins on Oct. 30 in London.