Agenda item

The report of the Chief Officer Elections and Regulatory advises Members of an application for the certification of films to be shown at the Hyde Park Picture House Brudenell Road, LS6 between the 28^th March and 31^st August 2019

The report of the Chief Officer Elections and Regulatory advised Member of an application for the certification of films to be shown at the Hyde Park Picture House, Brudenell Road, Leeds 6 between the 28^th March and 31^st August 2019.

It was noted that in addition to licensing premises for film exhibitions, the Licensing Authority has a duty under Section 20 of the Licensing Act 2003 to categorise films which are absent of a Certificate from a film classification body such as the BBFC. BBFC Guidelines were attached at Appendix A of the submitted report.

Details of the films and a brief synopsis along with an advised certificate and reason was provided at Appendix B of the submitted report.

The General Manager of Hyde Park Picture House was in attendance at the meeting and provided more detailed information for Members which included the following points:

·  Reason for advised certification of PG on the following films: ‘Something Said’; ‘Candy’s Crush’; ‘Something to Cry About’; and ‘Worlds of Ursula K LeGuin’ was that these were short documentaries. Although some elements were challenging, the content was informative and educational;

·  The U certificate for ‘Charanga del Norte and Guillermo Davis is a simplistic animation produced as a celebration of the Cuban band’s 20^th anniversary and Cuban life. The film is family orientated;

·  ‘Drawn by Desire’ is a series of short animation films which was initially put together for the London Film Festival. It was explained that the film had not received a rating whilst playing at the festival due to the way that the film was presented. It was presented as a moving image artwork which is outside the usual BBFC Guidelines;

·  ‘Drawn by Desire’ talks about women and sex and is to empower women to discuss the female form in a positive way. The film does not aim to sexually arouse the audience but to be used more for information and education. In response to Members questions it was suggested that similar programmes can be viewed on ‘Netflicks’ or BBC3;

·  Currently the film is not due to be shown until August and it was suggested that a speaker may attend to present the film. This was thought by Members to be a good idea to add context;

In response to a question in relation to the ‘Worlds of Ursula K LeGuin’ Members were advised that the film poses a moral question to provoke thought and conversation. It was noted that the work of Ursula K LeGuin looks at issues such as bullying and discrimination with an aim to make the world better working together.

Members had attempted to view ‘Drawn by Desire’. However, the link which had been provided did not work.

RESOLVED – To grant the following film certificates:

·  Something Said – PG as applied for

·  Candy’s Crush – PG as applied for

·  Something to Cry About – 12A rather than PG

·  Worlds of Ursula K LeGuin – 12A rather than PG

·  Charanga del Norte and Guillermo Davis – U as applied for

·  Drawn by Desire – Deferred to later date to allow the Applicant to address technological issues so that the film can be viewed by all Members.