28/08/2012 - Formerly banned and censored controversial films to be showcased

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is 100 years old in 2012 and to commemorate this the British Film Institute (BFI) Southbank is presenting a season of films that have been either banned or censored in the last century of cinema. Film critic Mark Cousins and film studies professor Linda Ruth Williams selected the films for the season that will run November 1 – 30. The season will explore the realms of horror, violence and sexual depravity and include controversial films like David Cronenberg’s Crash (1997), banned by Westminster Council at the time of its cinema release and Gaspar Noé’s Irreversible (2002) that passed uncut with an 18 certificate despite public protestations over the inclusion of a rape scene.

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The selection aims to show how some films have remained as disturbing as on original release while the impact of some others have lessened with the passage of time. All films will be shown uncut and in their entirety.

BBFC Director David Cooke said, “The BBFC’s centenary gives us a double opportunity; to showcase our initiatives for making the BBFC a still more trusted and up to date guide to the public in the internet age; and to celebrate the sometimes controversial, sometimes quirky, but always absorbing history of film classification in the UK. This will be a really fascinating film season, showcasing films which, as well as being important films in their own right, raised classification issues which in many cases go to the heart of the balance between freedom of expression and the grounds for intervention. It also adds up to an unmissable slice of British culture and social history.”