Tomboy film protest backfires

AN ORGANISED protest against the broadcast of a critically acclaimed film about a young girl who pretends to be a boy and kisses another girl has backfired.

Tomboy, which aired on Franco-German channel Arte last night, attracted 1.3 million viewers. It was the fifth most viewed programme on French television, with a 4.9% share of the audience.

In the days leading up to the film’s transmission, the broadcaster’s Strasbourg offices were besieged with complaints from across France.

Fundamentalist group Civitas organised the protest. On its website, it called for a “polite but firm protest” by telephone, fax or email, claiming: “This film does not meet the Arte mission is to ‘design, produce and distribute television programs of a cultural nature’.”

The film, which tells the story of a short-haired girl who decides to pretend to be a boy when she moves to a new school and is shown in schools as part of the Cinema and Schools programme, has been dogged by controversy for months.

A petition on the website Go Citizen calling for it to be banned in schools has attracted more than 32,500 signatures since its launch on November 28.

The campaign started after a mother from Deux-Sèvres raised concerns in her local newspaper. “[It is] very dangerous to suggest to nine year olds that they can change sex,” she wrote.

There are no plans at the moment to remove Tomboy from the Cinema and Schools programme.

According to overnight figures, the most popular programme on French TV last night was TF1’s CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which attracted 6.1 million viewers and a 23.7% audience share.

Photo: Arte