Joint Statement: R2K & SASFED Amicus Intervention in Inxeba litigation
On Wednesday, 28 March 2018, the Right2Know Campaign and the South African Screen Federation will be participating in an application for admission as amici curiae (friend of the court) in the Pretoria High Court involving the FPB Appeal Board’s reclassification of Inxeba, the Wound. They both will be represented by the Legal Resources Centre. The Court will be hearing a final review of the FPB Appeal Board’s decision to grant the film an 18X rating. The film’s producers initially brought the matter to court to have its controversial X18 rating reversed. The application also sought an urgent interim court order allowing the acclaimed film to be screened in mainstream cinemas for the first time since the Film and Publication (FPB) Appeals Tribunal changed the original 16LS age restriction to X18.
The Pretoria High Court granted that the “X” be removed with immediate effect from the 18 classification. While an 18 rating allows a film to be screened in any cinema to those over the age of 18, a film classified X18 can only be shown in adult sex stores. The matter is notably being opposed by Contralesa Gauteng, the Man and Boy Foundation and the FPB’s Appeals Tribunal.
R2K and SASFED remains resolute against the promotion of censorship by the FPB Board decisions, which in this instances has reared its ugly head against the LGBTIQ community. The decision of the Tribunal has set a dangerous precedent for the South African film industry. If the decision to rate Inxeba X18 stands, we will argue that this will severely inhibit film makers from obtaining the funding necessary to make South African films. Inxeba (the Wound) scooped four awards at the 2018 South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTA) over the weekend. It is clear that it is the view of the South African film community that the film has artistic merit. The consequence of the X18 rating undoubtedly harms artistic expression.
We insist that tolerance for artistic work that carries non-conventional opinion and values must be protected by the Constitution. The Tribunal’s ruling on Inxeba threatens to seriously undermine the production of artistic works that profile controversial issues. We are concerned that this will threaten the production of films that raise any degree of controversy and uncomfortable debate. This is unhealthy for our constitutional culture of freedom of expression. Such ratings are cable of bullying film-makers into self-censorship and we find this tremendously condemnable.
R2K and SASFED stand by the right to freely express, especially the right of expression by marginalized communities such as the LGBTIQ community. We have come far as a democracy to be deterred by cultural sensitivities that deter the project of opening diversity of expressions in the South African society.
#OngaziMakazi!
NB: See court papers here.
