Banned Film News

Barbie is a 2023 UK/US comedy fantasy by Greta Gerwig
Starring Margot Robbie, Kingsley Ben-Adir and Ryan Gosling

Barbie suffers a crisis that leads her to question her world and her existence.

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have banned the movie Barbie from cinema screening.

In Saudi Arabia, the culture ministry's announcement on August 9 cited violations of laws and values, asserting that certain scenes within the film mocked the sanctity of marriage and family, and insulted Islamic beliefs.

Kuwait banned the film in a bid to protect public ethics and social traditions.

Meanwhile there is a lot of pressure in Lebanon to ban the film. Lebanon's culture minister Mohammad Mortada criticised the movie, saying it "contradicts values of faith and morality" by diminishing the importance of the family unit.

The minister is backed by the armed Shi'ite armed group Hezbollah, whose head Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah called on Lebanese authorities to take action against materials he deemed to be promoting homosexuality, including by banning them, and said homosexuality posed an imminent danger to Lebanon and should be confronted.

Talk To Me is a 2022 Australia horror thriller by Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou
Starring Sophie Wilde, Joe Bird and Alexandra Jensen

When a group of friends discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces.

The hit Australian horror film Talk To Me has been banned from screening in Kuwait, reportedly solely over the casting of non-binary trans actor Zoe Terakes, who plays a character whose gender identity is never mentioned in the film.

The Hollywood Reporter first reported on the decision, which they confirmed was based entirely on the presence of Terakes, an Australian actor who identifies as non-binary and trans-masculine.

Terakes issued a statement describing the decision as being:

Targeted and dehumanising and means to harm us.

Our film doesn't actually ever mention my transness, or my queerness. I am a trans actor who happened to get the role. I'm not a theme. I am a person. Kuwait has banned this fim due to my identity alone.

As much as it is very sad to be on the receiving end of this, what is even more heartbreaking is what this precedent means for the queet and trans people of Kuwait . Representation is hope. Representation is a light at the end of the tunnel, a reason to keep going, something to hold onto in the dark, a voice that whispers things can be better than they are. Eliminating trans actors on screens will not eliminate trans people (as much as the government of Kuwait wishes it would) but it will eliminate a lot of hope.

Talk to Me has already released without cuts across all other Gulf territories.

Barbie is a 2023 UK/US comedy fantasy by Greta Gerwig
Starring Margot Robbie, Kingsley Ben-Adir and Ryan Gosling

Barbie suffers a crisis that leads her to question her world and her existence.

Vietnam has banned the upcoming Barbie movie from domestic distribution over a scene featuring a map that shows China's unilaterally claimed territory in the South China Sea.

Vi Kien Thanh, head of the Department of Cinema, a government body in charge of licensing and censoring foreign films said:

We do not grant license for the American movie 'Barbie' to release in Vietnam because it contains the offending image of the nine-dash line.

The U-shaped nine-dash line is used on Chinese maps to illustrate its claims over vast areas of the South China Sea, including swathes of what Vietnam considers its continental shelf, where it has awarded oil concessions.

Barbie, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, was originally slated to open in Vietnam on July 21.

Barbie is the latest movie to be banned in Vietnam for depicting China's controversial nine-dash line, which was repudiated in an international arbitration ruling by a court in The Hague in 2016. China refuses to recognize the ruling. Margot Robbie reveals story behind perfectly arched Barbie feet June 28, 202301:06

How NOT To Summon A Demon Lord is a 2018 Japan animation comedy
Starring Masaaki Mizunaka, Yû Serizawa and Azumi Waki

Season 2 was banned in January 2023 by the Australian Censorship Board. The problem was a still image at the end of Episode 3, CORRUPT RITUAL Presumably this image was cut when Season 2 was resubmitted in June 2023 and it was then MA 15+ rated.

Summary Notes

An elite player is summoned by two maidens to save a fantasy game.

SeasonTwo

uncut run: 251m pal: 241m		UK: Uncut and BBFC 18 rated for: 2023 Crunchyroll (RB) Blu-ray at UK Amazon #ad
cut cut:   run: 251m pal: 241m		Australia: ACB MA 15+ rated for strong sexual themes and sexualised imagery after censor cuts: 2023 Crunchyroll (RB) Blu-ray (classified 27/06/2023) Presumably the offending image was cut when Season 2 was resubmitted and then MA 15+ rated in June 2023.
banned		Australia: Banned by the ACB for: 2023 Crunchyroll (RB) Blu-ray (banned 04/01/2023) See refused-classification.com : The problem was a still image at the end of Episode 3, CORRUPT RITUAL.

Pride is a 2014 UK gay comedy drama by Matthew Warchus.
Starring Bill Nighy and Imelda Staunton and Dominic West.

There are no UK or US censorship issues with this release however the film has been banned from several showings in Turkey

Istanbul's Sisli District Governor's Office on June 6 banned the screening of an LGBTI+ themed documentary on the grounds that it is against the "constitutional rule." Using the same ban decision, Kadiköy District Governor's Office on June 7 banned the screening of another movie as well, and police detained those who came to the screening.

Kadiköy's District Governor's Office on June 7 banned the screening of the movie titled Pride organized by the Beksav Cinema Collective. The collective stated that they will organize the screening despite the ban. Nonetheless, the police blockaded their building and detained people who came to watch the movie screening and the BEKSAV executives.

The film has been banned before in Turkey when the Ankara authorities also banned screenings in 2018.

Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey is a 2023 UK horror by Rhys Frake-Waterfield
Starring Nikolai Leon, Maria Taylor and Natasha Rose Mills

After Christopher Robin abandons them for college, Pooh and Piglet embark on a bloody rampage as they search for a new source of food.

The screening of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, a British slasher film due to be released in Hong Kong this week, has been cancelled supposedly for technical reasons.

Chinese censors have in the frequently targeted the Winnie the Pooh character due to memes that compare the gait and girth of the bumbling bear to President Xi Jinping. The comparisons began in 2013 when Xi visited the US and met his then counterpart, Barack Obama, and some online commentators seized on their likeness to Pooh and Tigger.

UK: Passed 18 uncut for strong violence, gory images, threat:

• 2023 Altitude Film Distribution (RB) Blu-ray at UK Amazon #ad released on 17th April 2023
• 2023 Altitude Film Distribution R2 DVD at UK Amazon released on 17th April 2023

My Mother's Daughter is a 2022 UK documentary short film by Mariam Khan, Ahmen Khawaja

Mehak was 13 when she was abducted by a man known to her family. He repeatedly raped her and forced her to convert to Islam. She managed to escape but not before making a shocking discovery that changed her life forever.

Pakistan's Central Board of Film Censors has banned the short documentary My Mother's Daughter which was due to screen at the Women International Film Festival. Director Mariam Khan shared the letter sent by the censor board which had based its reasons for censoring the film by calling it propaganda as well as for highlighting wrong values which are against the Pakistani culture and society.

Plane is a 2023 US action thriller by Jean-François Richet
Starring Gerard Butler, Mike Colter and Yoson An

A pilot finds himself caught in a war zone after he's forced to land his commercial aircraft during a terrible storm.

The film was withdrawn from Philippines distribution rather than officially banned by the film censor, but the film censor loudly condemned the film for its portrayal of locals as the baddies. Politicians also applied pressure for a ban.

The chair of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board said that while the film is fictional, the country should not be portrayed in a negative and inaccurate light.

Sen. Robinhood Padilla said: This should not be allowed. ... The reputation of our Motherland is at stake , adding that it is acceptable to discuss issues among Filipinos, but criticisms from foreigners should not be tolerated.

Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri even expressed concern that the film could jeopardize the government's tourism promotions because it paints a wrong picture of the Philippines.