1 Day in police controversy
The British independent film community is up in arms after reports that West Midlands Police have advised cinemas in Birmingham not to screen Penny Woolcock’s film 1 Day [+see also:
trailer
film profile], due for a November 6 release.
The film is a musical look at two rival gangs of black youths in Birmingham. The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has passed the film at ‘15′ for strong language and violence.
Woolcock, said, “Censoring this film is short-sighted, shameful and lets a lot of people down. Even if 1 Day did glamorise gun violence, which it certainly does not, I do not think it is the function of the local police to go round saying what films should be shown and which ones shouldn’t.”
West Midlands Assistant Chief Constable Suzette Davenport denied there had been official censorship saying, “I would like to make it absolutely clear that West Midlands Police don’t have any powers at all to censor. Organisationally, we haven’t sent out a message to cinemas that they shouldn’t screen this film, but, I have always been consistent in saying that I am concerned it glamorises gangs and the impact this will have on the people of Birmingham.”
Shooting People, the Independent Filmmakers’ Networking Community, of which Woolcock is a Patron, has urged its 35,000 members to watch the film on its opening day.
Shooting People member Charles Wood said, “If the BBFC cannot be the end of screening rulings then what is the point of it’s existence at all? It was expressly set up originally to prevent precisely what appears to have gone on in Birmingham, i.e. to set a countrywide standard that was accepted through the UK, and reflected public opinion in the UK as a whole. That is absolutely the whole point of the system.”
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