FrightFest

streetrw wrote:

Eddie Krueger wrote:Just goes to show that the BBFC are becoming more self-serving and not really bothered about the moral fabric of society! There is a distinct Tory whiff to all this, I think.

I really don't think there's anything Tory about this. People would have been jumping up and down and idiot redtops would have foaming at the mouth regardless who won the election.

Agreed. It's just one film for god's sake, if there's been a massive surge of film censorship since this government came to power I must have missed it.

As I think I said in another thread, ushering in a new age of Video Nasties is probably not really high on their list of priorities.

Yes I agree nothing's changed as far as the BBFC's concerned. A film like Serbian simply never stood a chance of getting through uncut here.

Still the sequel A TORY CONFERENCE IN SERBIA should be good.

dont think its got anything to do with the conservative government at all, if anything the country has become much more of a nanny state under labour

From the Raindance Newsletter:

A Serbian Film screened last night despite last minute hiccups with the Westminster Council. Elliot managed to smooth feathers. Quite a few people were turned away because they failed to meet the criteria agreed for private screening.

The most brutal and intense film I have ever watched.

I don't know whether it was the effect of all the hype surrounding this film, the fact that we were at a private screening and had to go through a strict vetting procedure but all of my senses were heightened throughout the duration of the film. From the intro title sequence and the very first scene the tone was set for the rest of the film. The film was quite fast paced but the director cleveryl built the tension and the subject material just got darker and darker until you thought he couldn't push it any further...and then he did. It is groundbreaking in terms of how it has pushed the boundaries of what can be shown on screen and I've no doubt that this will become a cult classic that will still be hotly debated many years from now.

This film is very well made, the acting, camera shots, editing, lighting, soundtrack are all very good...not amazing admittedly but far surpass the standards usually seen within the exploitation genre.

After the film I was full of a lot of mixed emotions. it really does have a stunning impact and something that will take a while to digest. I think that even without being so gratuitous in some of the scenes the film would still be extremely shocking, but after hearing about some of the specific cuts that the BBFC want I think that these would seriously detract from the plot.

I think that to fully understand the film I would have to watch it again but this is something I don't really want to do at this stage.

Big respect to Raindance for having the balls to show this film and thanks to Mike from Revolver for helping with our ticketing situation

I'm curious, what was the nature of this vetting procedure? Just proof of age, or what?

(By coincidence, as I was typing this there was a little piece about Raindance on BBC London news. They didn't mention A Serbian Film.)

Wow - quite an experience.

A powerful and disturbing film that more than delivered upon the hype. My head is still reeling from some of the images put up on screen last night, a film that I wont forget in a hurry, but not one I will be revisiting any time soon. I don't know enough about the Serbian war or nation to have any real insight into the political allegory the director is trying to make.... whatever the horrors inflicted and the scars left in the psyche of the people... please don't make the rumoured (more shocking) Serbian film 2.

Respect is due to Revolver and Raindance for pulling this off - I would also be interested to understand the vetting procedure that let me in while over 30 others were refused. Any one on the forum not get a ticket - did they give a reason?

Good to hear at least some people were allowed in last night. I was in the cinema myself quite early, so am unaware at the moment as to why some people were turned away at the last minute. I'll check in with the Raindance people early next week as to the full story of what happened, not only just before the screening, but also throughout the whole day.

I'm going to be able to write a book on the problems we've had with this film when we are finally able to release!

Hopefully we may be able to confirm another screening at a UK festival shortly, as well as one or two possible 'film club' shows too.

Also from the Raindance newsletter:

Dodded by controversy, the screenings of A Serbian Film, Stolen, LA Zombie and Bedways happened as planned, but not without threats from authorities, service denial attacks on our website, heated debate and even walkouts.

hock:

Wonder if LA Zombie (banned in Australia) will suffer the same fate here as Serbian - cuts wise!

By the way I noticed that the forthcoming DVD release of Serbian has been put back over here according to PLAY.

DVD and Blu-ray release now scheduled for January 3 2011. We've had to move it back from our original intended release date of October to ensure we have a BBFC-approved version of the film to release.

rawshark wrote:DVD and Blu-ray release now scheduled for January 3 2011. We've had to move it back from our original intended release date of October to ensure we have a BBFC-approved version of the film to release.

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That's great timing for me, it'll be my birthday and I cannot think of better present

I was one of the unlucky ones on Friday night at Raindance. Refused entry with no reason but "You don't meet the agreed criteria". Asked for more of a response, but they were too busy apparently. I was gutted! Was so looking forward to seeing the film.
rawshark do you have any idea of any more future screenings? I contemplated a trip to the US to see it!

MarkR - sorry to hear you couldn't get in on Friday. Raindance had put a lot of effort (and to be fair, a lot of their budget) into this screening, and were dogged by Westminster City Council a lot of the way. The Council had referred to their own lawyers, and despite them eventually relenting that they had no jurisdiction over 'Private Screenings', they still interfered, demanded a tough set of criteria for audience members (ie, press, journalists, academics and industry people were ok, but others not so).

Apparently they were insistent on this to the end, and although the line did blur (some 'fans' did get in, and it seems some didn't), Raindance did have to co-operate with them for fear of losing their festival license. In my opinion, this is a ridiculous state of affairs that one film (albeit, one that is indeed a tough watch, transgressive and harrowing) can cause such a fuss in this country, or more particularly, one local authority.

As mentioned, we are hoping to announce one or two more uncut screenings, but until the relevant people can confirm, we can't say yet where. But please do keep watching this space...