Italy stops censorship of movies on moral and religious grounds
Italy's film censorship system was born in 1914, and movies were only invented at that time. It once blocked some well-known films such as "The Last Tango in Paris", but now, the Italian film censorship system is facing its own curtain call.
"The film censorship system has been abolished," Italian Minister of Culture Dario Francescani announced in a statement Monday evening.
"The control and intervention system that still allows the state to intervene in the freedom of artists has come to an end."
Now in Italy, it is no longer possible to block the release of a new film or request a re-editing for moral or religious reasons. On the contrary, filmmakers classify their films according to the age of the audience.
The decision will be verified and issued by a new cultural committee composed of 49 members elected from the film industry.
"This is a form of self-restraint. We are mature enough," said director Pupi Avati. The movie "Bordella" he shot in the 1970s was severely censored.
In the past century, hundreds of films in Italy have been censored mainly for political, moral and religious reasons.
The most famous of these is the classic "Last Tango in Paris", which was nominated for Oscar by Bernardo Bertolucci in 1972. Except for 3 copies of the film, which were preserved as "criminal evidence", all The copies have been destroyed.
Film expert Elena Boero said that the repeal of this law is "an important and historic step in the Italian film industry" and "it's time."
According to a survey conducted by CINECENSURA, since 1944, an online exhibition promoted by the Italian Ministry of Culture has had 274 Italian films, 130 American films and 321 films from other countries condemned in Italy. More than 10,000 works have been modified in some way, including works by well-known directors, such as Federico Fellini.
But for some artists, censorship has played a role in attracting audiences. "This makes movies more attractive and arouses public interest, especially those with pornographic themes," Avati said.
The last large-scale censorship in Italy was in 1998, when the blasphemous and absurd Toto Who Lived Twice (Toto Who Lived Twice) was strongly criticized by traditional Catholics.
Article Source:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/06/italy-ends-censorship-of-films-on-moral-and-religious-grounds
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