The South African Screen Federation said it will be mounting a legal challenge against the decision by the Film and Publication Board to reclassify the file “Inxeba” (The Wound) to a rating of X18.
The reclassification effectively labeled the film as pornographic and led to its withdrawal from mainstream cinemas.
SASFED chairperson, Rehad Desai, said that “we are intent on presenting a legal challenge to the Film and Publications Board, which we are confident we will win.”
Desai, who is said to be an internationally recognised documentary filmmaker, said that it is shocking that a film that South Africa filmmakers shortlisted for an Oscar can receive such treatment.
“The decision smacks of nothing less than homophobia and contradicts key sections of our constitution,” he said.
Mfundi Vundla, renowned creator and producer of Generations also slated the move by the Film and Publication Board as an outrageous act of totalitarian censorship reminiscent of our Apartheid past.”
Gender equality attorney, Sanja Bornman, said in a statement a joint statement on Friday that Lawyers for Human Rights supports calls transparency in relation to the FPB decision.
“The law entitles us to administrative justice and satisfactory reasons for such an extreme re-classification. The film has resonated positively with so many queer South Africans, some of whom saw their own story being told for the first time. We want to know why the FPB has decided that the film does not belong in the mainstream, at the cost of a potentially validating experience for marginalised members of our community.”
Meanwhile, the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL) on Friday welcomed and said it fully supported the decision made by the Film and Publications Board Appeal Tribunal to overturn the classification rating of the movie Inxeba to X18.
"According to the decision of the tribunal, this rating means that the material can only be distributed from designated adult premises," the CRL said in a statement.
"Therefore, we hope that this will ultimately bring calm and peace within the community."
The Commission said they had always urged everyone involved to respect freedom of expression, as well as recognise the importance of protecting the dignity of religious, cultural and linguistic communities, particularly when it comes to these matters.
The CRL Rights Commission further called for an end to death threats and intimidation aimed at the crew and cast members and appealed to those who might be involved in demonstrations and pickets to do that within the ambit of the law.
Inxeba is a film about the traditional African rite of passage, or initiation, but has provoked outrage over the gay aspect of the film, among other contentious elements.
(Additional reporting ANA)
