MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

“Offensive” clandestine Argentine film; Falkland Islanders' anger.

The controversy over an offensive Argentine film secretly shot in the Falkland Islands which has angered the Islanders has been given widescale publicity in British newspapers.

The newspaper stories claim that the film is based on an alleged "desperate" plot by the Military Junta that invaded the Falkland Islands in 1982 "under which Argentine men would have been sent to impregnate the Islanders and create a new generation of Falklanders with Argentine blood, loyal to Argentina".

Falkland Islands Legislative Councillor Mike Summers is quoted by the Sunday Express as saying: "The contents of the film are in extremely bad taste. It has been made by a maverick film producer and won't help relations between the two countries".

The Express, under the headline "Argy-Bargy over Falklands Film", says an unnamed "Foreign Office official" based in the Islands tried to play down the film's significance, saying: "It has been made by an individual and does not represent the view of the Argentine Government".

The Falkland Islands Attorney General, Mr David Lang, is quoted by the Express as saying: "We would not have given permission to make the film. Its content is offensive to the inhabitants of the Islands". The Sunday Telegraph says the Attorney General has refused to allow a screening in the Islands. It says "Letters of complaint have been sent to the London Film Festival where the film will receive its first British screening in November". It is due to be released in Argentina on September 21st, along with a book.

The Sunday Telegraph's big headline declares: "Undercover Argentine Film Infuriates Falklanders", with another heading: "Galtieri's plan to breed a loyal generation on the Falklands finds expression in celluloid". It carries photographs of General Galtieri, the film's producer, and of Stanley.

With a particularly offensive title playing on the word "Falkland", the film is a story about a man who sets out to seduce the Islands' women. The film's producer, Jose Luis Marques, said: "We had not realised how offensive the title was. In Spanish it works as a play on words". The film is 80 per cent in English with the rest sub-titled. The producer is quoted as making uncomplimentary remarks about Falklands women.

The Telegraph says that eighteen years after the Argentine invasion, the main character of the film embarks on what he calls "the second conquest of th