Home
About MAKO
Services
Contact
Prevention
MAKO/Files
Community Notification
Report
Referral
Profile's
Facts/ Stats
Online Dangers
Child Safety
MAKO Petitions
Research/ Resources
Books
DNA Info
Safety For Women
News/ Articles
Your Comments
Australian Politicians/ Contacts
Join
Sponsors
Donations
Links
|
A NEW film about sexually abused teenagers may be banned from Australian cinemas amid calls for a review of its R18+ classification. Mysterious Skin, by US director Gregg Araki, is due to have its Australian premiere in Sydney tonight before wider cinema release next month. In its majority decision, the Office of Film and Literature Classification said "the film's child-abuse theme was presented in discreet visuals and is justified by context". But Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock has ordered a review of the R rating after a request from his South Australian counterpart, Michael Atkinson. In a letter to Mr Ruddock, Mr Atkinson said: "The guidelines for the classification of films say that 'films and computer games will be refused classification if they contain depictions or descriptions of child sexual abuse'. The board's report makes clear that this film includes just that." The Australian Family Association will be making a submission to the review board hearing. Spokesman Richard Egan said he was concerned about the way the film depicted and described sexual abuse, involving an adult male and two boys aged eight and 15. "I wouldn't contest that the thrust of the movie is about the damage inflicted by child sexual abuse," Mr Egan said. "Filmmakers should be clever enough to convey those values without the need for such explicit description." Based on a novel by Scott Heim, Mysterious Skin is about two damaged young men who were abused by their sports coach. While the film has been described as tough and confronting, it contains no explicit sex scenes. Troy Lum, head of distributor Hopscotch Films, said it was an "embarrassment that this film is even being debated in Australia and has more to say about faults in the current system rather than the prudishness of the general Australian". Critic Margaret Pomeranz, who saw the film at the Venice Film Festival last year, said there was no justification for a ban. "Why shouldn't you be able to deal with a topic in a film?" Pomeranz said. "It has been so carefully done to protect the children acting. It is about the damage that pedophilia does, and it might give a great deal of comfort to adults who have previously suffered." Reviews in the US and Britain have given the film the thumbs-up. "It's hard to imagine a more serious or persuasive indictment of the horrors inflicted on children by sexual abuse," Kevin Thomas wrote in The Los Angeles Times. Wendy Ide, writing in The Times of London, said: "It's certainly not going to sit well with some audiences, but to my mind Araki's unflinching approach to taboo subjects has never worked better than it does in this excellent film." No date has been set for the Classification Review Board hearing. The Australian (19-7-2005) Lawrie Zion |
Child Abduction- Amber Alert
Sex-List Check Over Abduction Bids
ACT Child-Sex Offenders Register Set Up (24-6-2005)
Pedophile Register Given Boost (2-5-2005)
QLD To List 1,500 On National Child Sex Offender (25-10-2004)
Abduction Attempts Prompt Warning
Sex-List Check Over Abduction Bids
Alert System To Catch Child Abductors
MAKO/ Files - listing Australian pedophiles/sex offenders online- FREE to the PUBLIC....
Parents Have The Right to Know (4-10-2004)
Victims and Suicide
Child Protection Group Wants Paedophile Laws Tightened (8-9-2004)
Paedophile Register (2-9-2004)
We'll Hunt You Down, Rann Warns Pedophiles (2-8-2004)
Australian News
About Child Pornography
Child Safety
2005. All Rights Reserved.
Legal/Disclaimer/
Privacy/
Terms Of Use.