The movies of Tony Comstock that were prevented from screening at film festivals in Australia.
Damon and Hunter: Doing It Together
Directed by Tony Comstock / 2006 / USA / IMDb
In May 2006, DAMON AND HUNTER: DOING IT TOGETHER was passed with an X18+ (Explicit sex) rating.
The applicant was Wilful Damage Films.
X18+, but illegal to screen
The documentary screened at part of the 7th Melbourne Underground Film Festival.
July 2006
DAMON AND HUNTER is a frank, humane and erotic exploration of the sexual and emotional relationship between longtime lovers Damon Demarco and Hunter James. The film offers a candid look at the central role that sex plays in the relationship between these two men. Forget BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, if you want gay sex, check this out.Screens with PORNSTAR PETS. Q & A with filmmakers.
– Melbourne Underground Film Festival
Dir. Tony Comstock | 2006 | USA | 46 mins | Documentary
Tuesday 11 July 9pm | Glitch
– muff.com.au
July 11, 2006
Right now several dozen people are sitting together in the dark in a small theater in the Fitzroy district of Melbourne Australia. Along with the theater owners and the MUFF festival organizers they are about to become party to a crime. They are about to be party to the public exhibtion of DAMON AND HUNTER: DOING IT TOGETHER, a sexually explicit film that has been officially rated X by the Australian government. Because it is X-rated, it is illegal to present DAMON AND HUNTER publicly, even to a theater full of adults who know exactly what they’ve come to see. Because it is X-rated, it’s even illegal to sell DAMON AND HUNTER in many parts of Australia.We could have challenged this rating (as 9 SONGS did), but it’s rather costly (about $8,000) with no certainty of success – too much for a small studio like Comstock Films. So our lovely little film about love and sex goes into the world as a bit of a pariah, a scarlet letter X emblazened on its chest.
– A Criminal Intent to Arouse
– Tony Comstock
– comstockfilms.com
It would go on to share the award for best documentary with PLAGUES AND PLEASURES ON THE SALTON SEA (2004).
Coming to Sydney
Following the MUFF screening, it was programmed to play in September at the Sydney queerDOC festival.
August 2006
Eyeful of Guys Double BillDAMON & HUNTER: DOING IT TOGETHER
Dir. Tony Comstock, USA, 2006, 46 minThis double bill boldly illustrates the changes that have occurred in portrayals of sex, nudity and homosexuality in the last forty years. DAMON AND HUNTER is a frank and erotic exploration of the sexual and emotional relationship between longtime lovers Damon Demarco and Hunter James. They invite us into their bedroom for a candid look at the central role that sex plays in their relationship as lovers, partners and professional porn stars.
EYE ON THE GUY: ALAN B. STONE AND THE AGE OF BEEFCAKE
Dir. Philip Lewis & Jean-Francois Monette, Canada, 2006, 48 minEYE ON THE GUY takes us back to a more innocent era. A tribute to the artwork and life of Alan B. Stone who became immersed in the Montreal body building scene, catapulting his career as a photographer of well-built, good looking young men in mail-order physique (read: gay) magazines during the 50s and 60s.
This session is so certain to sell out it’s screening twice.
– queerDOC festival
Tuesday September 12, 7pm, Wednesday September 13, 9pm, Dendy Newtown
– queerscreen.com.au
The OFLC say no
On August 15, it was denied a film festival exemption by the Office of Film and Literature Classification.
The director, Tony Comstock, wrote about the case extensively on his blog. His epic struggle with the OFLC is reproduced here with permission.
August 20, 2006
We’ve been especially please with the reception DAMON AND HUNTER has received in Australia. It’s been covered in a number of magazines and newspapers, including DNA, The Melbourne Star, B-News, MCV, and QMagazine.In July it played to an overflow audience at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival, and went on to be named Best Documentary at the fest. From there we were invited to show the film at QueerDOC, the world’s premiere gay and lesbian documentary film festival, in Sydney this September. All great news, with lots of thank you notes to write, journalist to talk to, and of course, boxes of DVDs to send to Australia.
Then late last week, the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification dropped the hammer on DAMON AND HUNTER.
On the 15th, QueerDOC received notification from the OFLC that screening D&H would be a violation of Section 8 of the 2004 Film Festival Guidelines. That’s right, in Australia the government can tell you what you can and can’t show at a film festival.
What will happen now, I don’t know. The festival has already distributed nearly 50,000 copies of the program, including two screenings of DAMON AND HUNTER (which the festival expected would sell out). We’ve already printed up hundreds of posters and flyers and made arrangements to have them distributed throughout Sydney. The festival is currently in negotiations with the OFLC to see if they can show DAMON AND HUNTER in some sort of edited form, and we’re trying to make an appeal of the ratings. (Winterbottom’s 9 SONGS, a film that featured explicit footage of straight sex received a reduced rating from the OFLC. But without the major distributor backing of a film like 9 SONGS, and the very short notice, I’m doubtful our appeal will be successful.) If I were a betting man, I’d bet that Sydney is not going to get the chance to see the film that Melbourne enjoyed so very much.
And then there is still the question of what might happen to the organizers of the Melbourne Underground Film Festival and the owners of the venue that had the audacity to show DAMON AND HUNTER on not one, but two screens. Each violation of Section 8 is punishable by a year in jail and a $20,000 fine. Perhaps I felt a bit histrionic when I said that MUFF and Glitch were doing something courageous by showing DAMON AND HUNTER, but I don’t feel histrionic now.
Of all the films the OFLC might target for censorship, DAMON AND HUNTER seems like a particularly inappropriate choice. Aside from the recognition the film has so far received as an outstanding work of cinema, it’s also been recognized for it’s value as a life-affirming and educational document. DAMON AND HUNTER is held in the Kinsey Library at the world renowned Kinsey Institute at the University of Indiana. It’s already being used by the Gay Men’s Health Crisis in New York, and by the San Francisco Sex Information Hotline. Just this week it’s been being passed around by deligates at the 16th Annual World AIDS Conference in Toronto Canada. Why? Because DAMON AND HUNTER is singular in it’s compassionate, humane, frank, and erotic depiction of gay love and gay sex.And apparently that’s something that the government of Australia needs to keep the people of Sydney, especially the gay men of Sydney, from seeing.
– The Film the Australian Government Doesn’t Want You to See
– Tony Comstock
– comstockfilms.com
Censored to no avail
August 23, 2006
I have just finished butchering a re-edit of DAMON AND HUNTER to remove all the the material the OFLC finds objectionable — no erect penises, not touching of each other’s flacid penises, and no butt cracks. I’m cooking it into a .m4v file and will post it to the blog when it’s finished.In the meantime, yesterday an Australian journalist asked me if I had an “official reaction” to the OFLC decision.
I have been a photographer my entire adult life. In the name of bearing witness to the human condition I’ve documented unspeakable suffering, violence, and death; and for that I’ve been praised as a courageous witness. When I review the scope of people, places and events that have passed before my lens, I find myself unable to understand the censor’s rational for “protecting” adults from photographic images of sexuality. But allowing that I could be wrong about that, certainly adults don’t need to be protected from a film like DAMON AND HUNTER. DAMON AND HUNTER is a film about what’s best in all of us.
I also don’t understand, in a country where the rules governing X-rated material are honored mostly in the breach, that the government has decided to put its foot down at an event like QueerDOC. It smacks of misplaced priorities and selective enforcement.
DAMON AND HUNTER seems caught in the gap between shabbily crafted video porn and “serious films” about sex like 9 SONGS or KEN PARK. I find the attitudes expressed about sex and the moving image in both of these approaches off-putting, or worse, dull, which I why I (try) to make earnest, well-crafted films about what a delightful part of life sex is for most people most of the time. I just don’t think the rules governing the OFLC ever anticipated a film like DAMON AND HUNTER, which although it’s completely explicit, arousing and erotic, is also completely joyful, and utterly appropriate for adults to enjoy watching in a cinema.
The film is an affirmation that physical love is a wonderful and wholesome part of our humanity. The need and desire to connect with another person in profoundly physical and intimate way is something we all easily recognize as one of the great gifts of being alive, and there’s something special about coming together as an audience, in a theater, and acknowledging and celebrating the innate goodness of our sexual nature.
The classification of DAMON AND HUNTER as X-rated (as our other films have also been classified by the OFLC) prevents these film from being seen as they were intended: in a theater where the power of the cinema can transform a house full of strangers into an audience. There is something magical about being in the dark, with a bunch of people you don’t know, all responding as one to the film. It’s amplifying and affirming of one’s own emotions. In the case of DAMON AND HUNTER I think there’s a good chance the wound is that much deeper because this film is a celebration of physical love between two men, and there are so very few examples in cinema of authentic gay sex being documented, let alone celebrated.
I’ve just found out directly from the OFLC that because of the film’s X-rating if an Australian gay men’s health center were to use DAMON AND HUNTER in the same way it’s being used here in the states by the San Francisco Sex Information Hotline and the Institute for Gay Men’s Health at GMHC, that the health center would be breaking the law. Unbelievable!
We have retained counsel and are currently acting with all possible speed to try and appeal the OFLC’s ruling and have DAMON AND HUNTER reclassified as R. But the catch 22 of the X rating is that it denies a film the revenues to be garnered by the wider distribution allowed R-rated films. Comstock Films is an completely independent operation. My wife and I finance our films independently, produce them independently, and distribute them independently.
We don’t have the resources of time and money to battle the Australian government. The appeal itself costs $8,000, and if the OFLC denies our request for a waver, there won’t be much we can do. We’re exploring the idea of selling a “special edition” fundraising DVD at a premium price to finance the appeal, with the windfall donated to charity if the OFLC were to wave the fee, but the time table for organizing is tight.
What we do have is a lovely film, a film that can be defended both on principal and it’s merits as entertainment, a film an “ordinary Australian” doesn’t have to feel embarrassed about owning, watching, or speaking on behalf of. Perhaps that will count for something.
– Removed by Order of the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification
– Tony Comstock
– comstockfilms.com
August 23, 2006
– As Censored by the OFLC
We’ve re-cut DAMON AND HUNTER: DOING IT TOGETHER as specified by the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification, and we are offering it for free online viewing.
– Tony Comstock
– comstockfilms.com
August 24, 2006
Queer Screen had hoped a re-edited version of the film, which featured less explicit sex, would get an exemption for a one-off screening.However, this week the OFLC insisted all explicit content had to be removed for it to be shown.
A new cut of the film, to be edited by the documentary’s New York-based director Tony Comstock this week, will be shown to the OFLC for approval.
As queerDOC begins in just two weeks, on 7 September, the censors have told Queer Screen they will be making their decision within 48 hours of receiving the film.
Su Goldfish, vice president of Queer Screen, said she didn’t think the OFLC’s decision was discriminatory.
“In this context we feel they’re not being unfair and that it’s responsible to listen to their requests,” she said.
Queer Screen’s festival manager, Lex Lindsay, said while the re-edit would be radically different to the original he hoped audiences would still be able to “get a taste of it”.
“We hope we won’t lose the integrity of the documentary,” Lindsay said.
Last month DAMON AND HUNTER was screened at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF) where it was named best documentary.
MUFF director Richard Wolstencroft refused to comment on whether he’d been in contact with the OFLC about the screening. But he did say he was “shocked” by the decision to ban the original from being shown and, unlike Goldfish, thought it was discrimination.
“The film is a sensitive, honest and sensual exploration of male homosexuality,” he said.
“This censorship is further evidence of the subversive war being carried out by certain members of our government against gays and lesbians in our community.”
Wolstencraft encouraged Sydney’s queer community to protest by playing the film at a secret venue in “a much needed act of civil disobedience”.
– Censor May Lift Doco Ban
– starobserver.com.au
August 24, 2006
Director Tony Comstock can’t understand why the Australian censors would want to ban his documentary DAMON AND HUNTER: DOING IT TOGETHER from appearing in Queer Screen’s queerDOC festival.Sure, it features explicit shots of two men having anal sex, oral sex and masturbating. But, Comstock argues, it’s sex between a real couple.
“Typically the kind of films that get banned in Australia are very dark. Films like KEN PARK and BAISE-MOI. Films that are not nice,” Comstock told Sydney Star Observer from his home in New York.
“That’s one reason I make these films. I want to show you can make a very serious film about sex that’s nice, and doesn’t have to include some father giving his son a blowjob.
“I don’t want to see that. There’s enough ugliness in the world. I want to make films about sex that are genuinely grown-up.”
Other documentaries he’s made which featured violence and death had received positive responses, he said, yet showing “two people who love each other making love, which is an incredible part of being a human being … and we’re fucking criminal”.
The two stars of DAMON AND HUNTER had previously appeared in porn movies and understood what Comstock was trying to achieve “from the get-go”.
“They were sophisticated and charming and intelligent and very good-looking. More importantly they did all those little things that show they care about each other in the interview. The way they interrupted each other with a hand on the shoulder, or on the leg,” he said.
“It’s that interview that creates the characters and it’s their relationship that creates the plot of the film.”
– The Director of Doco DAMON AND HUNTER explains his frustration at having it banned
– starobserver.com.au
August 25, 2006
The queer press have picked up on the controversy surrounding our scheduled screening of DAMON AND HUNTER: DOING IT TOGETHER as part of queerDOC 06.The film, which includes footage of these long term partners having sex in the privacy of their own home (well, private except for the cameras), has received an X rating from the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification. The OFLC guidelines prohibit the exhibition of X rated material in a public setting, so essentially, for want of a better term, our screening has been banned.
We are still selling tickets to this session however. It screens with a delightful doco called EYE ON THE GUY which will make it to the big screen regardless. As for DAMON AND HUNTER, we are working closely with the OFLC on a compromise, whereby an edited, less explicit version of the film may be screened as part of this session.
– DAMON AND HUNTER Controversy
– queerscreen.com.au
Can we study you?
August 28, 2006
In a recent post to the Without A Box forums I said that dealing with the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification was something of a cross between ALICE IN WONDERLAND and Kafka’s THE CASTLE.But on Friday, after a nearly two hour long phone call where in we tried to get an explanation as to why some sexually explicit films, such as 9 SONGS and NEW SEX POSITIONS, VOLUME 2 receive R-ratings, while DAMON AND HUNTER gets an X-rating, and can’t even get an exemption for a one-off screening at a Gay and Lesbian Documentary festival (”The OFLC is aware we’re discussing an award-winning documentary film, right?”), things took a turn for the truly bizarre.
Moments after hanging up the phone, we received, by post, a request from the OFLC to retain our film for use in their Classification Training Workshops.
No, I’m not kidding. The OFLC would like permission to lift 3-4 minute segments to be used on training members of the film, television and videogame industry about the classification process.
As you try to wrap your brain around this, please keep in mind that only two days before the OFLC informed us that if an Australian counterpart to The Institute for Gay Men’s Health or The San Francisco Sex Information Hotline were to use DAMON AND HUNTER with their clients, or merely kept the DVD on their library shelves, they would be subject to fine and jail time.
The mind reels.
Meanwhile, the butchered re-edited version of DAMON AND HUNTER, per the OFLC’s instructions has been submitted to the OFLC with the promise that we’ll have an answer within 48 hours as to whether or not they will allow queerDOC to screen the censored version.
The entire 46 minutes, censored version can be viewed online here: DAMON AND HUNTER: DOING IT FOR THE OFLC.
– Curiouser and Curiouser: OFLC Requests Permission to Use DAMON AND HUNTER for Training Purposes
– Tony Comstock
– comstockfilms.com
Telling the truth is not allowed
August 29, 2006
Censors Classifiers at the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification have reviewed DAMON AND HUNTER: DOING IT FOR THE OFLC online, and although they not issued an official ruling, they have said that the objectionable sexual content has been removed to their satisfaction.But they have also expressed concern that the replacement of the objectionable footage text reading Footage Removed by Order of the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification is “defamatory to the OFLC.”
The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines “defame” in the following ways:
1 archaic : DISGRACE 2 : to harm the reputation of by libel or slander 3 archaic : ACCUSEThe position of the OFLC is that they have not ordered the removal of the objectionable sexual material from DAMON AND HUNTER: DOING IT TOGETHER, they are merely enforcing the law; that we have not been compelled by the OFLC to remove the footage, but have done so voluntarily.
Right.
This “concern” about defaming the OFLC seems disingenuous on their part. The law they say they’re “merely enforcing” clearly gives them the discretion to give DAMON AND HUNTER an R-rating, or to allow an exemption for a film festival screening, or both.
The OFLC both interprets and enforces the law. The OFLC can, if they choose, strip a film festival of it’s right to operate. The OFLC can also exert more subtle, insidious pressure. For example, they can tighten the exemptions they give for films from outside of Australian that a festival wishes to show. That’s right, all foreign films shown at Australian Festivals must be give a waiver by the OFLC before they can be shown.
Certainly in making this stink, Comstock Films has lost all hope of any of our future films being given anything other than an X-rating, but the OFLC also has the option of “Refused Classification” on our future submissions – which is nothing less than a total ban on distributing them in any form in any part of Australia.
Of course I am frustrated at not being able to show my film, the way I intended it to be seen to a group of adults who want to see it. I contemplated taping a brief “Director’s Statement” that could be shown immediately ahead of DAMON AND HUNTER to explain to the audience how and why the film had been altered, but putting that statement on the screen in a theater puts it under the jurisdiction of the OFLC; the Director’s Statement would need a waiver to be shown, and I can’t image the OFLC wouldn’t have “concerns” that my statement was “defamatory to the OFLC.” This is beginning to feel like a fight I can’t win.
On top of all of that, from the start I have been concerned with how raising a ruckus might effect our dealings with the OFLC on future films. We don’t make money showing films at film festivals, we make money by selling DVDs, and we can’t do that without submitting our films to the OFLC for “classification”.
Moreover, the OFLC’s X-rating already means it’s illegal to sell DAMON AND HUNTER in most of Australia. What if they decide to give our DVD sales the same special attention they’ve given the QueerDOC screening?
I am weary. I haven’t had a good night’s sleep since this mess started. I’ve got a beautiful film MATT AND KHYM that needs to be finished. The Summer is winding down and it won’t be long before it’s too cold to swim and sail with my girls. Maybe enough’s enough. It’s not my country, and It’s not my fight. Maybe it’s time to leave Australia to the Australians.
Maybe it’s time for me to move on.
– Defaming the OFLC?!?
– Tony Comstock
– comstockfilms.com
August 30, 2006
It has been a tumultuous and stressful couple of weeks here at Comstock Films. The thrill we felt at the prospect of DAMON AND HUNTER playing in front of a large audience in a real movie house has given way to (at various times) doubt, despair, and anger; sometimes all three at once. In the upset of it all, I sort of lost sight of why I make these films.I make these films, because I believe depictions of truly joyous and wholesome sex, depictions that represent the overwhelmingly positive and important role that our sexuality plays in our humanity are all but absent from the cinematic landscape. Moreover, in an age where it is easier than ever to see sexually explicit imagery, it is harder than ever to find imagery that reflects the common reality of sex: that sex is nice; that sex is normal; that sex is good.
The day after the sold out Melbourne screenings, when QueerScreen got in touch with us and asked if they could screen DAMON AND HUNTER at their upcoming queerDOC festival, we were thrilled and honored by their interest in the film. The success in Melbourne hinted at it, and the invitation to QueerDOC seemed to confirm that I had finally created a film that transcended its explicit sexual content without giving up its erotic power in the bargain, a film that people could be proud to fight for in the face of the repressive laws and regressive attitudes that can make it so hard to make these films.
When QueerScreen asked to show DAMON AND HUNTER, they knew what kind of film it was, and exactly what the rules were regarding screening an X-rated film in Australia. If they had any hesitation about screening the film in it’s entirety, that should have been addressed at the time. That could have given me the time to consider if and how I might alter DAMON AND HUNTER so that it could be screened legally.
Instead, Comstock Films has, under the pressure of eleventh hour circumstances, been made to be the advocate for this screening on QueerDOCs behalf. Through each stage of this tumult, salaried bureaucrats have offered vague and conflicting advice on how the film might be altered to gain OFLC approval. Each iteration of changes costs Comstock Films in time, money, and aggravation.
What have we got for our trouble? Yesterday the OFLC told us that the stink we’ve raised over DAMON AND HUNTER will be a factor in our future dealing with them. “Tread lightly” was their advice as to how I speak about any re-cut of my film. The intimation, and intimidation is clear: for daring to question their application of the law in this case Comstock films will receive unwelcome special attention in our future submissions.
Ten years ago, when I started making these films, it was with the idea that I was going to make films about sex that I wanted to make, films that I wanted to see; not the films I thought would sell, and certainly not the films I thought would get by the censors.
DAMON AND HUNTER: DOING IT TOGETHER represents ten years of risk, sacrifice, and uncompromising work to achieve that vision. The organizers of the Melbourne Underground Film Festival felt that the film was worth putting themselves at risk to show their audience. The DVD is available at retailers throughout Australia who believe it is worth defying the law to make this film available to customers, including retailers that stock no other X-rated DVDs. Between M.U.F.F. and QueerDOC programmers, more than 30 years of festival programing experience says that DAMON AND HUNTER is a film that deserves to be seen – in a theater, by an audience.
We’ve already done all we can do in an attempt to produce a version of DAMON AND HUNTER that QueerDOC feels it can screen, and in so doing, we’ve cut the very heart out of this film. DAMON AND HUNTER is a film about sex, and about the simple truth that sex is one of the most beautiful and important things that two people can do together. It’s too much. We’ve worked to hard for too long to make these films the way they need to be made, to now bend over backwards, and spend time and money we don’t have, all for the chance to show an eviscerated version of our film to a few hundred people in Sydney.
I have been a photographer my entire adult life. In the name of bearing witness to the human condition I’ve documented unspeakable suffering, violence, and death; and for that I’ve been praised as a courageous witness. When I review the scope of people, places and events that have passed before my lens, I find myself unable to understand the censor’s rational for “protecting” adults from photographic images of sexuality. But allowing that I could be wrong about that, certainly adults don’t need to be protected from a film like DAMON AND HUNTER . DAMON AND HUNTER: DOING IT TOGETHER is a film about what’s best in all of us.
DAMON AND HUNTER: DOING IT TOGETHER is a film about sex. It’s a film made to be seen by grownups who want to see it. It has sex in it – lots of it. Whether or not DAMON AND HUNTER seen at QueerDOC is up to them.
– Will DAMON AND HUNTER play at QueerDOC?
– Tony Comstock
– comstockfilms.com
Dropped, censored or not
September 1, 2006
I woke up this morning to find out that queerDOC has replaced one of the DAMON AND HUNTER screenings with a BBC miniseries. There’s still one on the queerDOC schedule, but I don’t hold out much hope that that screening will take place either.I’ve been downcast about it all day long, my mood not helped by the grey and windy weather. Then this, from an Australian customer who we had to help through our store’s admitted confusing interface for international orders:
“Many thanks for your very welcome email. The film DAMON AND HUNTER was very professionally and sensitively done, the quality superb and great credit must be given to Damon and Hunter for their courage in sharing they way they did. It is such an educational film, in a no nonsense way, and with honesty. While different people may view it in different ways and on differing levels, it is special. Well done. Good Bless, John”
This whole adventure has made me reflect on why I make these films; films that can’t be sold here or there, or won’t be screened here or there, films that could get me or other people in trouble for selling. It’s not the first time I’ve wondered whether or not it’s all worth it, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. I’ve got some more thoughts on that, which I will be posting later.
In the mean while, I will say that while John’s note doesn’t make the hurt I’m feeling go away, it helps, and I’m sure I’ll remember this note from John long after I’ve forgotten what does or doesn’t happen in Sydney this month.
– Is it all worth it?
– Tony Comstock
– comstockfilms.com
September 8, 2006
My name is Tony Comstock. I am an American filmmaker, and the director of the documentary DAMON AND HUNTER: DOING IT TOGETHER, a film that explores a gay relationship with an unusual level of candor, sentiment, and sensuality.Last July it was my privilege and honor to be invited to show DAMON AND HUNTER at Queer Screen’s 2006 queerDOC festival. Unfortunately, in mid-August, the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) denied Queer Screen’s request for a festival exemption to show the film.
Since the decision, there has been some speculation that the OFLC might grant an exemption to an altered version of DAMON AND HUNTER, and that this altered version might be screened at queerDOC. This is not to be. On August 31 I informed Queer Screen that I could not alter the film to meet the OFLC’s demands.
As there are already people who have purchased tickets to see DAMON AND HUNTER at queerDOC, I thought an explanation of my reasons was in order.
First, I would like to thank David Pearce, film programmer for Queer Screen for putting his professional reputation on the line by selecting DAMON AND HUNTER: DOING IT TOGETHER, and I would like to thank Lex Lindsay, Queer Screen’s manager, for putting his festival on the line to fight for his fellow Australians’ right to see this film. Making a film means nothing if people cannot see it, and I am ever grateful to David, Lex, and the Queer Screen organization for their efforts to try and put this film on a screen, in a cinema, so that it could be experienced by each viewer as a part of an audience. There is something magical about being in the dark, with a group of people you’ve never met before, responding to the film as one. It’s amplifying and affirming to your own emotions, and it’s a shame that people in Sydney have been denied the opportunity to experience DAMON AND HUNTER in this way.
Conversely, I am deeply disappointed by the OFLC’s refusal to grant an exemption for DAMON AND HUNTER: DOING IT TOGETHER to play at queerDOC, which is the world’s only film festival devoted to gay and lesbian documentary films. Through their actions, the OFLC has needlessly inflicted financial hardship on an already under-staffed and under-funded organization, and has almost certainly ensured that this film will never legally be seen in a legitimate venue in Australia.
The OFLC’s X-rating of DAMON AND HUNTER: DOING IT TOGETHER means the film cannot legally be screened publicly anywhere, save a video peep booth in Canberra. The OFLC’s X-rating means the DVD cannot legally be used by gay men’s health organizations (as is already being done here in the US). The OFLC’s X-rating means the DVD cannot legally be sold in Western Australia, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, or New South Wales. And of course the OFLC’s denial of an exemption means a film festival cannot legally screen DAMON AND HUNTER. This is nothing short of a ban. For the OFLC to suggest that it is anything else is disingenuous at best.
By statute, the OFLC holds, and has exercised in the past, wide discretion in the ratings applied to sexually explicit material, and in the granting of festival exemptions. In this instance, for reasons known only to them, they’ve chosen to hide behind the letter of the law, rather than honor the legislative intent, which is their ultimate charter. I would offer that their decisions, in particular their refusal to grant a festival exemption to for the queerDOC screening is heavy-handed, serves no legitimate purpose in maintaining civil order, and is wildly disconnected with the wishes of the vast majority of Australian people.
Since the film’s release, I’ve been overwhelmed and delighted by the enthusiastic response Australians have given DAMON AND HUNTER: DOING IT TOGETHER. The film has received good reviews, festival laurels, and a warm audience response, all of which confirms my own experience and belief that Australians and Australian society are tolerant and progressive. I’d venture if you asked 100 Australians if an audience of adults, mostly gay men, should be denied the chance to watch a film that celebrates the very essence of what it means to be gay, the overwhelming majority of them would be horrified at the thought. They’d probably go on to say “Thank goodness we don’t do things like that here in Australia!” That’s the insidious thing about censorship; unless it’s done with a thick black marker, most people never realize it’s happened.
There has been some suggestion that an accommodation with the OFLC might have been reached, that the film could have been shown with the sexual content removed, while preserving the artistic and political intent of the film. Indeed, in the past weeks I have spent many hours and thousands of dollars in an attempt to re-cut the film in accordance with the OFLC’s instructions. But in the end I could not reconcile my reasons for making this film with the demands made by the OFLC.
I made this film because I believe depictions of truly joyous and wholesome sex, depictions that represent the overwhelmingly positive and important role that our sexuality plays in our humanity, are all but absent from the cinematic landscape. Moreover, in an age where it is easier than ever to see sexually explicit imagery, it is harder than ever to find imagery that reflects the common reality of sex: that sex is nice; that sex is normal; that sex is good. I made this film because even today, here in America, in Australia, and elsewhere, the state’s role in the most intimate aspects of the lives of its citizens remains an open question.
To show DAMON AND HUNTER as demanded by Australian censorship laws, with all of the sex obliterated would have been to cut out the very heart and soul of this film. It would be a disservice to every person who came to the screening in the hope of seeing a film that would acknowledge their sexuality as something wholesome and noble. To show this film with the sex obliterated is to lend weight to the still pervasive and profound belief that there is something shameful about the giving and receiving of sexual pleasure. To do so under government threat would be to capitulate to everything that I have struggled against, and would acknowledge that the state has ultimate dominion over our minds and our bodies. To do so would be to concede to values regarding freedom and human dignity I find alien and repugnant.
I have been a photographer my entire adult life. In the name of bearing witness to the human condition I’ve documented unspeakable suffering, violence, and death; and for that I’ve been praised as a courageous witness. When I review the scope of people, places and events that have passed before my lens, I am unable to comprehend the censor’s rational for “protecting” adults from photographic images of sexuality. Adults have the capacity and the right to choose for themselves what sort of images they wish to see. They do not need to be protected from images of sex, and least of all from a film like DAMON AND HUNTER. In the face of horrific images we are exposed to each and every day, the OFLC decision is not only unfair, it is perverse.
DAMON AND HUNTER is a film about the joy love and sex brings into our lives. DAMON AND HUNTER is about our manifest right as adults to experience that joy, regardless of whom or how we love. DAMON AND HUNTER is about the dignity we find when we are true to ourselves in the face of adversity and oppression. DAMON AND HUNTER: DOING IT TOGETHER is a film about what’s best in all of us.
– An Open Letter Regarding the Cancelled QueerDOC Screening
– Tony Comstock
– comstockfilms.com
OFLC make good on their threat
During his long battle with the Office of Film and Literature Classification, Tony Comstock recalled the following conversation.
August 30, 2006
– Will DAMON AND HUNTER play at QueerDOC?
Yesterday the OFLC told us that the stink we’ve raised over DAMON AND HUNTER will be a factor in our future dealing with them. “Tread lightly” was their advice as to how I speak about any re-cut of my film. The intimation, and intimidation is clear: for daring to question their application of the law in this case Comstock films will receive unwelcome special attention in our future submissions.
– Tony Comstock
– comstockfilms.com
They appear to have been true to their word
In 2007, his follow-up, ASHLEY AND KISHA: FINDING THE RIGHT FIT (2007), was prevented from screening at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival.
The following year, Melbourne’s Sexy International Film Festival was stopped from showing it on a double-bill with XANA AND DAX: WHEN OPPOSITES ATTRACT (2005). Film festival exemption was refused for both titles.
Do as we say, never question us, do not mock us and absolutely never tell the truth to the public.
Above all, don’t mess with the censor!
Ashley and Kisha: Finding the Right Fit
Directed by Tony Comstock / 2007 / USA / IMDb
In 2007, ASHLEY AND KISHA: FINDING THE RIGHT FIT was programmed to screen at the 8th Melbourne Underground Film Festival.
September 2007
Well, we played DAMON AND HUNTER last year (against the wishes of our Big Brother at the OFLC) and we will do our best to do so again with Ashley and Kisher, this time a hot lesbian romp that will have even the hetero men lining up at the door. Comstocks’ films are open, honest and frank portrayals of homosexuality and with the true atrocities on our news every night it seems absurd to want to ban two women or men going down on each other and talking frankly about it later. Fight censorship for real at MUFF 8!10:15pm, Saturday 29 September at Glitch.
– Melbourne Underground Film Festival
– muff.com.au
Unfortunately, the screening had to be abandoned after the Classification Board refused to grant film festival exemptions to it and six other features.
September 20, 2007
The Following films have been banned from the OFLC:
70K
SCHULMÄDCHEN-REPORT: WAS ELTERN NICHT FÜR MÖGLICH HALTEN (aka THE SCHOOLGIRL REPORT)
SEX WISH
THE FARMER’S DAUGHTER
ASHLEY & KISHA: FINDING THE RIGHT FIT
WHORE
60 SECOND RELIEFWe will replacing them with other films from the MUFF program.
This Sunday 70K will be replaced with a second screening of STREETSWEEPER… a good MUFF Neu that we can play. WHORE and 60 SECOND RELIEF are withdrawn and nothing will fill their place. The Other films will be replaced. More details on Monday.
Will the media even cover this? Do people care about censorship in this country? MUFF opens tonight at Toff in Town come down and support a festival that believes in fighting censorship!
Here is a copy of a letter sent to our OFLC contact Amy Wooding. Any response we will share with our MUFF audience.
– MUFF 8 films banned!
– The Melbourne Underground Film Festival
September 2007
I thought I’d write to you about this year’s decision.So the films I cannot play at MUFF 8 are the following:
70K, SCHULMÄDCHEN-REPORT: WAS ELTERN NICHT FÜR MÖGLICH HALTEN (aka THE SCHOOLGIRL REPORT), SEX WISH, THE FARMER’S DAUGHTER, ASHLEY & KISHA: FINDING THE RIGHT FIT, WHORE and 60 SECOND RELIEF.Is this correct?
I will comply and withdraw them from screenings and replace them with films you have granted permission for me to play (like MOONLIGHT and MAGIC, LEFT EAR, etc).
A few small questions, you might be able to answer or maybe the OFLC director can answer them (If you have his email I’ll cc this to him):
Why is pornography of the most gross and offensive nature (like shitting and pissing films) available for sale in most Adult bookshops in Victoria?
Also: Are not X rated films only supposed to be available in Canberra but for sale in 90% of Adult shops in Vic and NSW and in other states?
Why is MUFF referred to the justice department for wishing to screen a couple of classy or forgotten pieces of erotica with artistic merit to an audience over 18 (who are keen to see them) and nothing done about the illegal X rated sale of videos and DVD’s in sex shops that is rampant?
Is there not a hint of corruption or hypocrisy and definitely absurdity here?
Why are X rated films banned at all! It begs the question given the ready availability of it in on the Internet? Available on any PC, anywhere.
A MUFF screening is a minor problem compared to the flaunting of your rules every day of every year by the Adult Sex Industry.
Why are films like SHORTBUS and 9 SONGS passed though they clearly contravene some of your guidelines?
Why is MIFF allowed to play a film like EXTERMINATING ANGLES in a section that focussed on perversity and erotica though that too contravenes your guideline? And we cannot do it? We will comply with your absurd ruling out of fear of prosecution to our small festival but register our complaint also that this is neither fair or just. We believe strongly it represents a violation of the basic human rights of Australian citizens to freedom of speech, assembly and expression.
Enabling a festival like MUFF or MIFF to play whatever they choose from the classy end of the sex industry will lift both festivals standing in the International community and not reveal a backward 1950’s attitude to sex and censorship in Australia. Your own guidelines date from over 50 years ago.
Surely a review is in order?
I am cc-ing this email to the MIFF Festival Director Richard Moore for his interest. His comments and feelings on the matter I would be interested to hear.
Any answers to these questions or our complaint will be greatly appreciated from the OFLC.
This letter is not written in disrespect but in a wish for better clarification of the important issues it contains.
PS. Why is 70K banned it has no sex or violence at all does it?
– To; Amy Wooding, Classification Board
– From: Richard Wolstencroft, MUFF
This was not the first time that MUFF had run into problems with the censor.
In 2004, the OFLC demanded the dropping of THE TOOLBOX MURDERS (1978), WIFE TO BE SACRIFICED (1974), GUINEA PIG: DEVILS EXPERIMENT (1985) and GUINEA PIG: FLOWERS OF FLESH AND BLOOD (1985).
Comstock vs. the Censor – The sequel
A year after his battle the Australian censor over DAMON AND HUNTER: DOING IT TOGETHER (2006), Tony Comstock was back.
September 21, 2007
Here are the seven films that the Australian government has banned from the Melbourne Underground Film Festival:
70K
SCHULMÄDCHEN-REPORT: WAS ELTERN NICHT FÜR MÖGLICH HALTEN (AKA THE SCHOOLGIRL REPORT)
SEX WISH
THE FARMER’S DAUGHTER
ASHLEY & KISHA: FINDING THE RIGHT FIT
WHORE
60 SECOND RELIEFThink about this for a moment.
We’re not talking about the government of Iran or Saudi Arabia dictating what films a festival can and can’t show.
We’re not talking about self-appointed morality police picketing, protesting and lobbying.
We’re talking about the Australian government, in 2007, dictating what can and cannot be screened in a film festival.
Sons and daughters of Gallipoli, is this what you want?
– The Magnificent Seven
– Tony Comstock
– comstockfilms.com
September 22, 2007
Over the last 48 hours we’ve been writing and talking to a lot of people, including Amy Wooding, exemptions officer at the OFLC.What has become clear is that the OFLC’s decision to ban seven films from this year’s Melbourne Underground Film Festival is an act of retaliation.
In Australia, film festivals are required to submit a list of the unclassified films they wish to screen to the OFLC and get permission to screen them. Unclassified films would include student work, undistributed work, films from outside Australia that do not yet have Australian distribution, basically any film that has not, and perhaps will never be put through Australia’s mandatory ~$800 classification process.
Last year MUFF’s list included our film DAMON AND HUNTER: DOING IT TOGETHER, which had already been classified X by the OFLC, and the OFLC refused to grant a festival exemption to screen the film, and warned the festival not to screen the film. (The full details Aussie classification system, and the Kafkaesque x-rating is a subject for another post.).
MUFF went ahead and put DAMON AND HUNTER on the program anyway. The fact that this was being done in defiance of OFLC orders was kept secret, even from me. This was our first festival outing, and we didn’t know what to expect. But we postered, blitzed the local press and hoped for the best.
In fact, so many people turned out that only by the luck that our distributor had another copy in her bag were there able to put the film up on a second screen for the overflow. By all accounts the screening was very well received.
From there the film was invited to screen at Sydney’s QueerDOC, and was scheduled to play two nights. Again the OFLC rejected the festival’s request for an exemption, only QueerDOC, citing among other things, their need to ask the OFLC’s permission to screen nearly all of the films they program, and their dependence on government funding, complied with the OFLC’s demands.
At the time, I was rather angry that QueerDOC did not go ahead with the screening of DAMON AND HUNTER. But in light of the retaliatory action by the OFLC against MUFF, it would seem that QueerDOC’s course of action, if not especially courageous, was prudent. MUFF receives no government funding, but the OFLC has punished MUFF by applying its censorship powers as broadly as it can to MUFF’s 2007 roster of film.
What happens next? Who knows.
Every Aussie filmmaker who hopes to see their work play outside the edit bay must bear in mind the OFLC as they cut their film. Every Australian distributor and festival programmer knows they must submit their films to the OFLC. Every DVD shop knows that when they sell DVDs of films that have not been classified by the OFLC, they do so in the half-light of a selectively enforce law. I don’t know how many of our Australian colleagues want to speak out against this tyrannical action by the OFLC. I don’t know if any of them feel they can risk speaking out.
Our Aussie distributor is beside herself. She’s the sort of distributor every independent filmmaker dreams of finding, a passionate, tireless advocate of our work. But for now, she and MUFF would seem to stand alone. There has been no outcry, no call to arms. Right now would seem as if the Australian film community simply looks on and says, “There but for the grace of God go I” – and maybe they’re right.
More news if there is more news.
– No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
– Tony Comstock
– comstockfilms.com
September 25, 2007
My name is Tony Comstock, I am an American documentary filmmaker, and I’ve run into a bit of trouble with the Australian government around the upcoming screening of my latest film, ASHLEY AND KISHA: FINDING THE RIGHT FIT.The film has already received positive notices in the Australian press, including LOTL, Bnews, The Sydney Star Observer, and Melbourne Community Voice. It had been schedule to play this Saturday as a part of the Melbourne Underground Film Festival, but the Office of Film and Literature Classification has not seen fit to grant an exemption for the screening (exemptions are required for all unclassified foreign films.)
ASHLEY AND KISHA is a documentary exploring the role of love and sexuality in the relationship between its principals, an African- American couple from the South. In this country, being out and proud is perhaps most difficult for Southern, African-American women, and ASHLEY AND KISHA is touching, yet defiant testimony to the struggle and rewards of being true to one’s sexual self.
In it’s decision the OFLC has cited the sexual content of the film as the reason for not granting a festival exemption for the film. Yet that very same night, across town at ACMI, the film DESTRICTED will be playing under OFLC exemption. DESTRICTED infamously contains very explicit sex act, nearly all depicted outside the context of love or commitment.
We believe the OFLC has erred in its decision, but there is no recourse within the OFLC structure for making an appeal.
There is also some question about the OFLC’s impartiality. Last year the OFLC prevent a screening of our film DAMON AND HUNTER at Sydney’s queerDOC festival, an action we protested vehemently. There are some aspects of this most recent OFLC action that smack of retaliation.
Appended below are two letters I’ve written that give a more detailed account of what’s happened to date, and contact information for the OFLC.
I hope after reading these letters, you will find you have common cause with us in our hour of need, and will send this along to whatever community or press contacts you have.
– Letters to the press
– Tony Comstock
– comstockfilms.com
September 2007
Another round with the OFLC, another defeat. But a few points scored.Late last night I had three long phone calls with a representative of the OFLC.
Here’s the news:
ASHLEY AND KISHA is considered an unclassified foreign film, which meant that the OFLC could have done what they do in every other case, and given the film a festival exemption to play at MUFF.
But the OFLC refused to give it a festival exemption on the basis that my previous three films were classified X. The X classification is why the OFLC wouldn’t allow our previous film DAMON AND HUNTER to play at QueerDOC last year.
I asked why DESTRICTED, which features work by Larry Clark, who’s previous film was refused classification, was given a festival exemption and they could not answer. (It’s scheduled to play the same night as ASHLEY AND KISHA was, across Melbourne at ACMI).
I asked why DESTRICTED, which features brutally mercenary depictions of the most loveless anal sex, was given a festival exemption and they could not answer.
Their suggestion was that we submit ASHLEY AND KISHA for rush classification, in the hopes that we would receive a R classification.
But…
When I asked why 9 SONGS, which feature actors performing cunelingus, felatio, ejaculation, and penetration was given an R, while our films which depict actual lovers are given an X, they could not answer.
When I asked why SHORTBUS, which features, among other things, an actor masturbating and then ejaculating on his face was given an R, while our film, which explore sexual pleasure inside the context of committed loving relationships, they could not answer.
When I asked why numerous videos from the Sinclair Institute, which feature various sex acts performed by paid models, and presented under the guise of education are given R , while our films, which are held in the libraries of The Kinsey Institute at the University of Indiana, Planned Parenthood, The Gay Mens Health Crisis, The San Francisco Sex Information Hotline and many other health and education organizations are given an X, they could not answer.
They have told me the process is subjective and imperfect, yet this process has a “perfect” track record of marginalizing my films.
Now they would ask that I once again submit my work to this subjective and imperfect process, pay $1,000 for the privilege of doing so, against the hope that the fifth time’s the charm.
Writing about ASHLEY AND KISHA Australian Film critic Megan Spencer said, “The sweetest thing – Kisha & Ashley is one of the sweetest love stories you’re ever likely to see committed to film. The Comstocks once again put their perfect documentary formula to good use – true love and real sex – on screen; what’s not to like?!”
True love and real sex, what’s not to like indeed?
Obviously the OFLC has no problem with real sex. It has granted its classification to 9 SONGS, SHORTBUS, and many other videos containing real sex. It has granted a festival exemption to DESTRICTED, which contains real sex.
One can only conclude that the problem the OFLC has is with true love, and what a pity that is; for this film, for the people who wanted to see it, and for Australia.
It’s worth noting that the OFLC representative I spoke with was just as beside himself as I was, “Until Australians educate themselves about how the OFLC works, and take a stand about what goes on here, movies like yours are going to keep falling through the cracks.”
I guess that’s nice to hear, but it would have been nicer if the screening of ASHLEY AND KISHA could have gone ahead as scheduled.
It’s also worth noting that the director of the OFLC, Donald McDonald, would not come to the phone. I’m told he thought it was “inappropriate” to discuss his decision with me.
If you’d pass along addresses where your readers might register their dismay at this censorship by OFLC, here are some contacts:
Amy Wooding, Exemptions Officer, the person who made the decision not to grant A&K an exemption Amy.Wooding@classification.gov.au
David.Emery, Manager, Applications, Amy Wooding’s director supervisor, whom I spoke with at length, and expressed his deep person disappointment over the decision. David.Emery@classification.gov.au
Donald McDonald, head of the OFLC, who refused to come to the phone. I’m told he said discussing the decision with me would be “inappropriate”. Letters of complaint that are written directly to Donald McDonald are required, by law, to be included in the OFLC’s annual report. The only people who ever do it are radical social conservatives, who complain about lax classification standards. Maybe we can change that. Donald.McDonald@classification.gov.au
The physical address of the OFLC is:
Classification Operations Branch, Attorney-General’s Department. Locked Bag 3, Haymarket, NSW 1240, T: 02 9289 7118, F: 02 92897199.Also, perhaps you’ve already heard, but in addition to OutDVD being threatened by the AGs office over carrying unclassified DVDs, Hares and Hyenas also received unwelcome visitors from the AG’s office and was “asked” to remove similar material from their website and store.
Lastly, you should know that thousands of unclassified Bollywood and Kung Fu titles are readily available in Australia, with no efforts made to prevent their sale. The laws, which apply to all unclassified DVDs are always applied to DVDs that have a sexual context. Sometime that context is explicit, such as ASHLEY AND KISHA, but more often it is merely the sexual orientation of the audience to whom the titles appeal.
Thanks for your support. I don’t know that this a fight we can win, but I know it’s a fight that’s worth fighting!
– Letter to press
– Tony Comstock
– comstockfilms.com
The OFLC, MUFF, & Tony Comstock
September 27, 2007
President of MUFF, Richard Wolstencroft, told MCV, “It’s ridiculous. We‘ve already had police presence at the festival this year to make sure we aren’t playing anything illegal, but it doesn’t make sense to ban X rated films from small film festivals when you can buy them from any adult shop in the State. They need to make the rule universal.”Spokesperson for the OFLC, Nick Perrett said, “A film does not have to be viewed to get an X rating, and in this case the filmmaker’s previous films were rated X; and therefore we assume from the information we have that this film would not be suitable for public viewing.”
– Lesbian film banned
– Melbourne Community Voice [dead link]
September 27, 2007
First, thanks so much for your coverage of this issue. There is within me, a certain discomfort with pursuing this as vigorously as I have. I am not an Australian, and my only standing is as an artist who only wants that those who wish to see my work are able. Your support makes me believe my concern is not misplaced.Secondly, a minor correction. The Larry Clark film that was Refused Classification was KEN PARK.
Lastly, given the well-publicized content of DESTRICTED, which is screening publicly with the blessing of the same office and officers that declined a festival exemption for ASHLEY AND KISHA, it’s hard not to infer that their is something sinister at work in the Office of Film and Literature Classification with respect to my work.
By way of explanation, David Emory of the OFLC has offered that he disagrees with the OFLC’s decisions, both this year with ASHLEY AND KISHA and last year with DAMON AND HUNTER at queerDOC, but that the process is “imperfect.”
Given that on the five occasions my film have encountered this “imperfect” process, and in each instance it has managed to make it impossible for my films to play before an audience of adult, it strains credulity to believe that what’s at work here is merely an “imperfect process”.
Even if that were the case, why have no steps been taken to correct this “imperfect process” so that serious, thoughtful, beautiful, and joyous films exploring and celebrating sexuality can be viewed by adults in the venues in which they wish to view them?
– Lesbian film banned
– Comments on article, Tony Comstock
– Melbourne Community Voice [dead link]
The outcome
MUFF’s closing night was on September 30 at the F-Four Nightclub. Despite the OFLC ban, the jury still viewed it and decided to award it best foreign film and best director to Tony Comstock.
October 8, 2007
The OFLC can’t stop thousands of unclassified DVDs from being sold illegally throughout Australia, but they did manage to stop the Melbourne Underground Film Festival from screening ASHLEY AND KISHA: FINDING THE RIGHT FIT in front of an audience of movie lovers at a small cinema in the Fitzroy district of Melbourne, (just to be sure, the OFLC sent a police detail to the theater the night of the screening.) The OFLC’s refusal to grant ASHLEY AND KISHA an exemption to play at MUFF comes right on the heels of “special attention” being paid to a number of gay and lesbian book and DVD stores in Melbourne. For some reason, the OFLC seems to take a special interest in what Australia’s G&L is watching on DVD.If any good has come out of this whole mess, it’s that after years of silence, the topic of censorship is making headlines in Australia again.
– Ban Provokes Censorship Discussion in Australia
– Tony Comstock
– comstockfilms.com
September 23, 2008
Exemptions to show unclassified films.
The Film Festival guidelines provide that the Director will not grant an exemption for an unclassified film likely to be classified X 18+. The Director refused to grant an exemption for ASHLEY AND KISHA: FINDING THE RIGHT FIT to be screened at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival on the ground that it would likely be classified X 18+.Complaints
– Classification Board
Two complaints were in response to the Director’s decision to refuse classification exemption for ASHLEY AND KISHA: FINDING THE RIGHT FIT to be screened at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival.
– Annual Report, 2007 to 2008
A new festival, same result
In 2008, the Melbourne Sexy International Film Festival planned to screen it with XANA AND DAX: WHEN OPPOSITES ATTRACT (2005).
Both titles on this Tony Comstock double-bill were stopped from showing by the Classification Board.
September 21, 2009
– Classification Board
The Director also refused to exempt two films as part of the Sexy International Film Festival. One of the films [ASHLEY AND KISHA: FINDING THE RIGHT FIT] was refused exemption as it was likely to be classified X 18+ and the other film [XANA AND DAX: WHEN OPPOSITES ATTRACT] was refused exemption as it was previously classified X 18+ by the Classification Board.
– Annual Report 2008-2009
Xana and Dax: When Opposites Attract
Directed by Tony Comstock / 2005 / USA / IMDb
In July 2005, a DVD of XANA AND DAX: WHEN OPPOSITES ATTRACT was awarded an X18+ (Explicit sex) rating.
Festival no show
The 2008, Melbourne Sexy International Film Festival planned to screen it as part of a Tony Comstock double-bill with ASHLEY AND KISHA: FINDING THE RIGHT FIT (2007).
Both were refused film festival exemption.
September 21, 2009
– Classification Board
The Director also refused to exempt two films as part of the Sexy International Film Festival. One of the films [ASHLEY AND KISHA: FINDING THE RIGHT FIT] was refused exemption as it was likely to be classified X 18+ and the other film [XANA AND DAX: WHEN OPPOSITES ATTRACT] was refused exemption as it was previously classified X 18+ by the Classification Board.
– Annual Report 2008-2009