Big News with Dave Crampton
David Lane V Ant Timpson: The Censorship Fight Continues
The Becks Incredible Film Festival, formerly the Incredibly Strange Film Festival, used to be about bringing off-beat,
niche market films into the country for limited screenings. These days the “strange” tag is missing but the festival now
has a reputation for seeing how many R-rated films can be imported into the country (by Ant Timpson) and passed by the
chief censor before the Society for the Promotion of Community Standards ( David Lane) complains and slaps injunctions
on the films prior to screening. “Incredible” could well indicate the fact that some of the screened films have passed
the censors without later SPCS intervention.
The top five attractions have now been cut down to the hot three after Baise Moi, Bully –along with Visitor Q - were
banned from the festival after complaints from the SPCS. Mr Timpson was adamant last week that Bully was going to be
shown irrespective of whether it was to be banned.
“Bully is going to continue to play to adult New Zealanders whether the injunction happens or not," he said.
But he’s not playing it now. He’s angry and feels like he has been the victim of SPCS bullying. Mr Lane considers the
festival organisers are doing their own bullying by stretching the limits of censorship and has called Mr Timpson
“infantile and irresponsible”. Mr Timpson responded by calling Mr Lane a hyprocrite, a bully and a total fraud. Yeah,
he’s really pissed off. Maybe they should fight each other in the boxing ring for youth suicide – and film it to screen
at the next festival.
The whole fight really kicked in when a district court judge slapped an injunction on French film Baise Moi after an
SPCS complaint. Lawyer and journalist Stephen Price has argued that it was not “manifestly unreasonable” for a district
court judge to temporarily ban Baise Moi pending a further court hearing. After all, Price noted, Australia rated it
R18. But he didn’t say the film was banned in Australia. He couldn’t as that Aussie decision was made after his column
went to print.
The courts can stop screenings where it is in the public interest to do so. However, they must take into account the
Bill of Rights, addressing the importance of free speech. So do the censors, don’t they? It’s just that at the moment
the censors and the board of review are decisive about their classifications, although coming to different conclusions.
Creating a temporary injunction, as the courts has done with Baise Moi, is one way of stopping films being screened
until making that final decision on whether to ban or allow screening, thus taking into account the Bill of Rights. It
is just unfortunate for festival organisers that the injunction was taken out immediately prior to the festival.
It remains to be seen what the court will do next week when the Society for the Promotion of Community Standards heads
back to see what the temporary injunction of Baise Moi will turn into. If it is not banned, Mr Timpson may well consider
taking legal action to recover costs of the banned film. Had the films been classified much earlier, the subsequent
legal action could have been completed and the films either screened at the festival or edited out of the final
programme. But it is the practise of festival directors to promote films immediately after the classification and before
any possible subsequent appeals. It is also a risk that Mr Timpson was willing to take and in four cases it has
backfired, although Bully was shown in Auckland. There is a loophole in the legislation and this aspect needs to be
looked at.
Mind you, Ant Timpson has a point when he says that any film passed by the Government- appointed chief censor should be
able to be shown. But he has as much of a point as a person convicted of a crime in the High Court who wants to appeal
that sentence - in effect, an injunction - in the Court of Appeal.
If dodgy films are to be brought into the country only to have their initial classification revisited and an injunction
placed on the film throughout the
festival period, it makes it pretty difficult to run a successful festival. Surely it would be easier on everybody if
dodgy films in festivals were classified and all appeals heard before the festival book is taken to the printers.
If films continue to be banned and then screened at a later date, the publicity will ensure that people will go to see
the film for the wrong reasons. These reasons have more to do with finding out what the fuss is about as opposed to
viewing for entertainment or artistic merit.
Then again how artistic or entertaining is Baise Moi, Bully or Visitor Q anyway? Ask those who were handed it out in
Wellington by a free speech crowd last week – they should have seen it by now.
- Dave Crampton is a Wellington-based freelance journalist. He can be contacted at davec@globe.net.nz