Fura Dels Baus: XXX Film Elements, La
Dir Fraine Aleuaud - Emmanuel Carler / 2002 / Spain
ANY missing footage discussed for this film is not the work of the OFLC!
La Fura Dels Baus, the controversial Spanish theatre group, performed their work XXX in Sydney and Melbourne during February, March 2004.
As a backdrop to the performance they screen sexually explicit film clips. They had played in a number of countries, and although controversial, they had never felt the need to censor their work.
However for Australia it was decided to pixlelate and obscure the film to prevent any possibility of prosecution. It was also decided to submit the film to the OFLC for classification.
The Australian producer, Rodney Rigby, explained why
"... submitting the video to the OFLC was a
necessary safeguard akin to "fire-proofing the scenery".
New Theatricals submitted the censored 27min film for classification and on February 3rd 2004 received an R18+ (Strong Sexual Violence, Sexual Activity). The OFLC database lists the film as being the ORIGINAL version and makes no mention of the censorship. This kind of under reporting goes on all the time in the X18+ category. Distributors feel the need to pre-cut to avoid being banned, the OFLC can then safely pass the film and it's listed as an ORIGINAL version. At the end of the year the OFLC can produce statistics in their Annual Report that show they ban very few submissions.
The advertising for the show itself carried the warning:
"ADULTS ONLY 18+: This production contains
extreme and explicit sexual themes and images throughout. Persons under 18
will not be admitted in the theatre."
One of the creators of XXX, Valentina Carrasco explained her reaction to this being the first country in which they were censored.
"We had this idea of Australia being a very open country and people being relaxed, so when this first arose we thought it was a joke, but it got serious pretty quickly," she said. "It was quite unbelievable. The only other place we had a little bit of a reaction, and it was mainly a tabloid reaction, was in London."
"This has never happened before," "It doesn't alter the quality of the show because the show's not just about the video. But it was very, very strange to have to do it. We were not expecting that."
***
XXX opened in Melbourne on February 4th, and moved to Sydney on the 25th. The review of the opening night in The Sydney Morning Herald stated.
"..... the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification granted an R-rating to XXX's 20 minutes of pre-recorded explicit footage.
However, an announcement before the show, explaining that the footage had been modified to achieve the rating, drew boos from the audience.
The Sydney Morning Herald also reported that a protest was held by six
of F*** Nile's group at the opening Sydney show. They applied for a police
permit, were refused, but went ahead anyway. The police were quoted as
saying:
"They're pretty gentle people. We're not
expecting any trouble"
***
The following day F*** Nile asked the following in the NSW Parliment.
NSW Legislative Council Hansard
26.02.04
XXX COMMONWEALTH OFFICE OF FILM AND LITERATURE CLASSIFICATION
Page: 6647
Reverend the Hon. FRED NILE: I ask the Minister for Justice,
representing the Minister for Police and the Attorney General, a question
without notice. Is it a fact that the Spanish hard-core pornographic live
stage show and film production called XXX opened last night, until
7 March 2004, at the Enmore Theatre, Newtown? Is it a fact that the
Commonwealth Office of Film and Literature Classification, following the
Melbourne presentation, proposed to refuse classification to segments of
the hard-core pornographic film shown on stage, but finally reclassified
those segments R-rated if they were blurred? What action is the New South
Wales Police Force taking to enforce the Commonwealth's ruling as State
police have the responsibility to stop persons under 18 years of age
attending XXX ? What action is the New South Wales Police Force or
the Attorney General taking to ensure New South Wales criminal laws
concerning offensive behaviour, et cetera, are not being broken by the XXX
production?
The Hon. JOHN HATZISTERGOS: I congratulate Reverend the Hon. Fred
Nile on the peaceful protest that was arranged at the Enmore Theatre, and
I was pleased to learn that apparently there were more police there than
there were protestors, according to the news reports. In any event, I will
obtain an answer from the Minister and advise the honourable member in due
course.
Reverend the Hon. Fred Nile: A peaceful protest.
The Hon. JOHN HATZISTERGOS: A peaceful Christian protest, I was
told.
***
NSW Legislative Council Hansard
30.03.04
XXX COMMONWEALTH OFFICE OF FILM AND LITERATURE CLASSIFICATION
Page: 7652
On 26 February Reverend the Hon. Fred Nile asked the Minister for Justice, representing the Minister for Police a question without notice regarding the XXX Commonwealth Office of Film and Literature Classification. The Minister provided the following response:
NSW Police has advised me that officers from the Newtown Local Area Command took appropriate action to ensure that restrictions relevant to the film segments' "R" classification were enforced.
***
The above quotes are taken from the following articles.
"Risque
think piece takes on porn world" SMH 04.02.04
"Show's
censorship 'a joke'" The Sun-Herald 15.02.04
"Sex
and sensibility" SMH 20.02.04
"How to protest politely" SMH 26.02.04
***
The following is taken from the REPORT ON THE REVIEW OF THE OPERATION OF THE 2003 GUIDELINES FOR THE CLASSIFICATION OF FILMS AND COMPUTER GAMES. It includes further information about the classification of this title. It shows that despite being pre-cut before submission, a minority of the Classification Board still wanted it banned.
Note that the full report can be accessed at the OFLC website.
REPORT ON THE REVIEW
OF THE OPERATION OF THE 2003
GUIDELINES FOR THE
CLASSIFICATION OF FILMS AND
COMPUTER GAMES.
Prepared by Kate Aisbett, Entertainment Insights
December 2004
Executive Summary
Review process
A review of the first twelve months’ operation of the Guidelines for the
Classification of Films and Computer Games 2003 (the 2003 Guidelines) was
promised by the former Attorney General, the Hon Daryl Williams AM QC MP,
to ensure that the decisions made under the 2003 Guidelines align with
those made under the Guidelines for the Classification of Films and
Videotapes – Amendment No. 3, 2000, and Guidelines for the
Classification of Computer Games – Amendment No. 1, 1999 (the previous
guidelines). The review of the 2003 Guidelines has been conducted and is
the subject of this report.
The principal object of the review is to assess whether the combining and recasting of the previous guidelines into the 2003 Guidelines has had the effect of changing the level of content that falls into the various classification categories for film and games.
4 Complaints received by the OFLC
4.3.2 Ministerial Correspondence 1
July 2003-30 June 2004
The OFLC processed 250 items of ministerial correspondence, including
letters, emails and facsimiles referred to the Attorney-General in the
financial year 2003- 2004. This was about 70% less ministerial
correspondence than the previous year. Report on the Review of the
Operations of the 2003 Classification Guidelines for Films and Computer
Games 27 Main issues raised in the correspondence were:
• the theatre production Les Fura dels Baux XXX and the lack of a classification system for theatre (30 items);
7 Examination of Board
decision reports
7.6.4 Split decisions for R18+ classifications
The other split decision was for the video components sequences
accompanying the theatre production of Les Fura dels Baux XXX by Spanish
theatre company La Fura dels Baus. As the Board report describes:
The film elements contain disparate subject matter including female and male genitalia, simulated sexual activity, graphic breast surgery, television news footage and simulated sexual assault.
In the minority view:
… the depictions of sexual violence were explicit rather than implied and that the impact of the material exceeds high. Furthermore, in the view of a minority of the Board, the film as submitted did not have sufficient context or artistic merit to allow it to be accommodated at R.
In the majority’s view the sexual violence scene was implicit and lacked detail. The Board report noted that ‘the implied sexual assault at this point are obscured by pixilation’. The majority argued that the film was ‘unlikely to be screened without the context and narrative of the live production….in the majority view: ‘The work has a serious artistic intent, is not intended to titillate and is likely to be heralded as a controversial work for an adult audience.’
The decision does not indicate a change in standards resulting from the change in guidelines. The Board members formulated their argument based on the 2003 Guidelines statement that ‘sexual violence may be implied’ at R18+. Board members differed in their reading of the film content in this particular case.
Attachment D – OFLC responses to
titles referred to in the report
La Fura Dels Baus XXX
On 2 February 2004, the Board classified the film component of La Fura
Dels Baus XXX R18+ with the consumer advice ‘strong sexual violence,
sexual activity’. The theatre production La Fura Dels Baus XXX included
video screens displaying disparate subject matter including depictions of
sexual activity and sexual violence.
The Board took into account the principle in the Code that ‘adults should be able to read, hear and see what they want’ together with other principles including ‘minors should be protected from material likely to harm or disturb them’.
In applying the classification guidelines, the Board considered that the classifiable elements of the film did not exceed the high impact level and could be accommodated at the R18+ category.
