News

Cinema Retro issue #21 has a short but insightful article about how well-known films have fallen victim to the British censor. Thus, readers will be interested in this notice we have received from BBC Four:

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BBC Bristol’s Timeshift Dear Censor: The Secret Archive of the BBFC lifts the lid on the world of cinema censorship, this programme has been given unique access to the files of the British Board of Film Classification.

Featuring explicit and detailed exchanges between the censor and film-makers, 'Dear Censor' casts a wry eye over some of the most infamous cases in the history of the board.

From the now seemingly innocuous Rebel Without a Cause, the first 'naturist' films and the infamous works of Ken Russell, and up to Rambo III, this frank and surprisingly warm documentary demonstrates how a body created by the industry to safeguard...

The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence) has been banned the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence) is embattled with an “non-governmental organisation, funded by the film industry and responsible for the national classification of films within the United Kingdom. It has a statutory requirement to classify videos, DVDs and some video games under the Video Recordings Act 2010…The BBFC rates theatrically released films, and rated videos and video games that forfeited exemption from the Video Recordings Act 1984, which was discovered in August 2009 to be unenforceable until the act was re-enacted as the Video Recordings Act 2010. Legally, local authorities have the power to decide under what circumstances films are shown in cinemas, but they nearly always choose to follow the advice of the BBFC.”

The BBFC has denied the direct-to-video certificate for the release of Tom Six‘s sequel to The Human Centipede (First Sequence...

The British Board of Film Classification, an undemocratic institution like censorship boards everywhere, has just denied a certificate to the direct-to-video release of Tom Six's The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence). In other words, the film cannot be "legally supplied" anywhere in the United Kingdom. The decision was taken by BBFC Director David Cooke and the Presidential Team of Sir Quentin Thomas, Alison Hastings and Gerard Lemos. In the teaser trailer above, director Tom Six claims the original The Human Centipede outraged and revolted so many people that "I even get death threats on Facebook!" He then promises that The Human Centipede II will [...]...

A look inside the BBFC.

Hostel

The cinema is my church. The darkness, the sound-absorptive atmosphere, the frisson of anticipation. It’s practically Pentecostal. When it is threatened I take it personally. ‘Priests in black gowns were making their rounds, and binding with briars my joys and desires,’ Blake wrote. Surely the high-priests of cinematic party-pooping would be the censors. If cinema is my church, then the BBFC must be the Anti-Pope (or Pope, depending on your point of view or century you’re living in).

I sat near the back of the Cineworld auditorium, away from the matted-haired drunkards in torn Anthrax T-shirts. The lights dimmed and the atmosphere became chilled as—silently—the BBFC certificate, signed by Quentin Thomas, filled the screen. Paternalistic, condescending, doting: tasting our food before we eat it to make sure we don’t burn our mouths. Binding with briars our joys and desires.

LONDON -- The BBC has been cleared of "deliberate or systematic bias" in its news and current affairs coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, an independent panel commissioned by the BBC governors said Tuesday. The panel, headed by former head of the British Board of Film Classification Quentin Thomas, said that overall the BBC's coverage was fair, but said that BBC journalists should work harder to provide "a complete picture" of the situation. "What the BBC does now is good for the most part; some of it very good. But, it could and should do better to meet the gold standard which it sets itself in its best programs," Thomas said in a statement. "Our assessment is that, apart from individual lapses, there was little to suggest deliberate or systematic bias. On the contrary, there was evidence of a commitment to be fair, accurate and impartial," Thomas said. BBC chairman Michael Grade welcomed the findings of the five-strong panel. "The independent panel's report is a substantial and serious piece of work and so its central finding of no deliberate or systematic bias is all the more reassuring," Grade said. "The panel found much to praise, but it also identified some shortcomings in the BBC's coverage."...

LONDON -- The BBC has been cleared of "deliberate or systematic bias" in its news and current affairs coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, an independent panel commissioned by the BBC governors said Tuesday. The panel, headed by former head of the British Board of Film Classification Quentin Thomas, said that overall the BBC's coverage was fair, but said that BBC journalists should work harder to provide "a complete picture" of the situation. "What the BBC does now is good for the most part; some of it very good. But, it could and should do better to meet the gold standard which it sets itself in its best programs," Thomas said in a statement.

LONDON -- Suicide, self-harm, easily accessible weapons and incitement to racial hatred or violence onscreen are just three red-hot areas cited by the British Board of Film Classification on Wednesday as it highlighted several areas of concern that emerged in new guidelines for film classification after a year-long public consultation period. Board president Quentin Thomas and director David Cooke told reporters at a low-key launch that the censor also would look closely at movies and videos promoting or glamorizing smoking, alcohol abuse or substance misuse. But despite a hefty booklet containing page after page of research, Thomas and Cooke said the guidelines had undergone only "tweaks here and there" and that it was very much business as usual for the censor body.