Quentin Tarantino considers the Confederate flag the 'American swastika' - and feels it is 'about damn time' that people questioned its place in the American South.

Tarantino's comment was made during an interview to promote his latest film, The Hateful Eight, which is due to hit the big screen on January 8 in the UK.

The film is set a few years after the American Civil War and it puts the spotlight on strained race relations in the country.

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Quentin Tarantino considers the Confederate flag the 'American swastika' - and feels it is 'about damn time' that people questioned its place in the American South

In it, black Union soldier Major Marquis Warren, played by Samuel L Jackson, is thrown together with former Confederate soldiers, including Walton Goggins as a South Carolinian sheriff and Bruce Dern as a General.

Although the movie is not about race, the subject is explored through the interactions between the characters.

The United States has seen sustained racial unrest following the shooting of 18-year-old African American Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in August 2014.

Further incidents have stoked the fire, including the mass shooting at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina, carried out by a white supremacist who had previously posed with the Rebel flag of the Confederate states.

In the interview with The Telegraph, Tarantino said: 'All of a sudden, people started talking about the Confederacy in America in a way they haven't before. I mean, I've always felt the Rebel flag was some American swastika.

'And people are starting to question about stuff like statues of Bedford Forrest [the Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard] in parks. Well, it's about damn time, if you ask me.'

Tarantino said: 'And people are starting to question about stuff like statues of Bedford Forrest [the Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard] in parks. Well, it's about damn time, if you ask me'

The director also addressed his notorious interview with Channel 4 News' Krishnan Guru-Murthy three years ago.

During the interview, Tarantino told Guru-Murthy 'I'm shutting you down' when the latter asked a question suggesting a link between violence in his films and violence in real life.

Several of Tarantino's films, including Django Unchained, Reservoir Dogs and now The Hateful Eight, include high levels of violence and brutality.

The director said: 'In the last 25 years, when it comes to industrial societies, hands down the most violent cinema that exists in any one country is Japan.