Andrew Worsdale
ACCLAIMED photographer Larry Clark’s controversial first film Kids, about New York teenagers, drug-abuse, promiscuity and HIV, was passed uncut last week in a ruling by the Appeal Board. It will be released on to the South African circuit with a 16 age restriction and a warning that it contains sex and strong language.
In August, the Publications Control Board banned the film, claiming it was amoral, and they felt so strongly about it that the possibility of a possession prohibition on the film was discussed. In its ruling the board stated that “reasonable South Africans would demand a total rejection of the film”.
South African distributor of the film, Anant Singh’s Videovision, appealed on each and every one of the reasons for the ban and its submission included an analysis of the plot, characterisation and story-line. The Society for Family Health, a non-governmental organisation dedicated to improving reproductive health, assisted in the campaign, stating in a letter to the Director of Publications that “It would be nice to wish drugs, sex, alcohol and violence away from our adolescents, but we must be far more mature in our approach. We must expose the reality to change it; ignoring the reality simply perpetuates it… In Belgium, in fact, this film was used as part of a government Aids programme.” With that in mind, Videovision appealed for Kids to be passed with a 12 age restriction, but to no avail.
Meanwhile, in the United States, Kids was released with 56 seconds of censor cuts and a 17 age restriction. And, after being banned in the UK for several months (under the 1978 Protection of Children Act), the film was released with an 18 age restrictions and two cuts lasting under a minute. Thus the uncut South African release again places us ahead of other countries’ censorship rulings.
Singh’s company also owns the local rights to Trainspotting, another controversial movie presently on circuit. This time, however, it’s the exhibitors who have hampered the release of the picture, only playing it on a limited selection of screens. Singh is peeved by their narrow-mindedness, “I’m very disappointed by the exhibitors’ reaction to the film. They’ve received it as an art-house picture and refused to recognise the culture of young cinema-goers and give it a broader release pattern.” Trainspotting, though, has done exceptionally good business over the last week, vindicating Singh’s point, “It’s a complete success, making an average of R20 000 a screen with only 18 prints in circulation.”