'Very raw': New Zealand's Arden pans movie about Christchurch mosque attacks
Mon, Jun 14, 2021
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern wears a concerned expression on her face. Photo: AFP/ File
WELLINGTON: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday criticised a film planned about the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks, saying that it's not the right time to make such a movie and that it focussed on the wrong subject.
The US-backed film "They Are Us" has sparked an intense backlash among New Zealand Muslims, with community leaders slamming the project for pushing a "white saviour" narrative.
Ardern said the attacks — when a white supremacist gunman ran amok at two mosques during Friday prayers, killing 51 and seriously injuring another 40 — remained "very raw" for many New Zealanders.