Brakhage's "Lovemaking" was not banned; rather, Stan pulled it from distribution himself. (source: Scott MacDonald's Critical Cinema interview)
I recently screened Jan Nemec's "A Report on the Party and the Guests" - one of a handful of Czech 60s films to receive the official designation "banned forever" from the government there. (Obviously, forever didn't last.) (Accounts differ on what the other films were, but some include Evald Schorm's "Courage Everyday.") It can be tricky separating out (speaking about here in the U.S.) instances of outright banning from neglect and suppression for commercial reasons, from censorship by private as well as government agencies. My understanding is that L'Age D'Or was unavailable for decades because Bunuel's patron was scandalized by it, more than from any "ban." (The effect, of course, is the same.) It also can be hard to find concrete evidence of banned films. For example, Fuses is the kind of film that seems like it would have run into problems, but I don't recall ever reading accounts of outright banning (as opposed to the many instances of audience outrage). Same with Christmas on Earth - intended to be destroyed by its author, yes, but actually banned? A few years ago, my collective presented a site-specific screening of Warhol's Lonesome Cowboys, near the site of its 1969 bust by Atlanta (and Georgia state) police. The film was seized, the projectionist arrested, and the audience was lined up and photographed (yes!). The film re-appeared later in the year, with cuts (according to Variety). I think that counts as censorship (of the whole film as well as the cut scenes). Un Chant D'Amour was according to historical accounts intentionally projected by Mekas together with Flaming Creatures to trigger a bust and court case which he thought could be won. Genet's literary reputation was key in that gambit. My understanding of Frank's Cocksucker Blues is that it was suppressed by the Stones themselves. Perhaps others on the list will know more about this. The New York State Censorship Office's rejection of Deren/Hammid's The Private Life of a Cat (for a birth scene) was one of the reasons that Amos Vogel converted Cinema 16 to a private membership club (i.e., film society). With such a club, he no longer had to submit films to the censor board before screening. Andy Ditzler www.filmlove.org www.johnq.org Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts, Emory University On Fri, Mar 28, 2014 at 9:43 AM, Scott Stark <sst...@hi-beam.net> wrote: > Hi friends, I'm looking for ideas for a "banned films" program for a local > (Austin) erotica-based film festival. Flaming Creatures is definitely top > of the list. Any ideas for other films that have been banned, censored or > otherwise disparaged for risque content? (experimental preferred) > > thanks, > Scott > > > _______________________________________________ > FrameWorks mailing list > FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com > https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks >
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