NZ Public's Right To View Government Approved Festival Films

To:  Internal Affairs

To:Ê Secretary of Internal Affairs, Board of Review and other selected parties,


Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

In regards to two films at this years Becks Incredible Film Fest - KEN PARK and IRREVERSIBLE.

We, the undersigned are urging you, the Secretary of Internal Affairs, Internal Affairs Censorship Dept, The Board of Review et all, to consider the current vexatious behaviour by the Society For The Promotion of Community Standards (SPCS) against the Becks Incredible Film Fest 2003.

Last year SPCS managed to disrupt the film festival by abusing the appeal process of the Classification Act. They received automatic injunctions without any prima facie case (ie they hadn't even seen the films in question).

We, the undersigned wish to make our own adult decision regarding whether we want to see any film selected in the festival that has been classified by the Office of Film And Literature. We understand that David Lane of SPCS has stated that he will stop the films screening at all costs, whatever their eventual rating may be.

We also understand that the films in 2002 eventually were able to be seen by a wider audience than would have ever been afforded by the film festival. This was caused solely by the actions of SPCS themselves. However the irrevocable damage was already done to the festival by the vexatious litigation by SPCS. We urge you not to let this happen again and for common sense to be part of the due process. David Lane has also stated in the Sunday Star Times that "he doesn't accept there is a market for this sort of material". We ask then, why is he bothering to ban films with no audience?

The President of the Board of Review rejected two of SPCS's appeal claims against THE PIANO TEACHER and AND YOUR MAMA TOO which were scheduled to play at the International Film Festival. The primary reason given is that the films in question had not been seen by SPCS. We also question why injunctions and appeals were given to SPCS on two Incredible Film Festival films that SPCS had also not seen.

The festival is acknowledged as first class and features the best selections of films and documentaries from around the globe. The two films being targeted this year have both been invited to the worlds best film festivals and won several awards.

We understand that the classification office has gone above and beyond in their consultation process, receiving advice from the public and specialist groups before making their final decision.

We question how can an organisation like SPCS (very religious/ extemist) would have a better understanding about the sensibilities of the general movie going public in NZ. Especially when they haven't viewed the films.

We urge you to allow us, the NZ filmgoing public to make our own free choice whether we want to view these 'classified' festival films or not.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The NZ Public's Right To View Government Approved Festival Films Petition to Internal Affairs was created by and written by Anthony Timpson.  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.

Send this to a friend