![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/4399_The_wound_poster-150x150.jpg?resize=150%2C150\")
<\/p>\nFollowing the tardy release by the Appeals Tribunal of its reasons for reclassifying the film \u2018Inxeba\u2019 (The Wound), the film\u2019s producers, through its attorneys Webber Wentzel, served a law suit on Saturday, 24 February, seeking an urgent interdict overturning the reclassification of the film.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
You can read the application here:<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.indigenousfilm.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Complete-Affadavit-INXEBA-Webber-Wentzel-compressed.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n The FPB has since issued a responding affidavit and has also pointed out that the FPB Council and Board are separate entities from the Appeals Tribunal. They do not agree with the censorship of the content and stated as much in their responding affidavit. \u201cIt is important that the position of the Board should be made clear in public. The FPB it does not support the award\u201d. The FPB does not agree with the X rating and has never rated the film X but 16LS instead. The FPB has made it clear that the X rating was imposed by the Tribunal and that it was not a rating requested by the complainants.<\/p>\n The full responding affidavit is available here:<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.indigenousfilm.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Affadivit-FPB-Board-Response-to-IFD-Affadavit-ilovepdf-compressed-ilovepdf-compressed-2.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n The Appeals Tribunal overturned the FPB’s classification rating of 16 LS and gave the film a rating of X18, classifying the film in the same category as hardcore pornography. The tribunal was chaired by Christopher Mamathuntsha and included Professor AS Magwaza, Nonkoliso Sigcau, Manko Buffel, Lutendo Malada, Sizwe Snail Ka Mtuze, and Lihle Mapipa Ndlovu.<\/p>\n The Appeals Tribunal reasons for the X18 rating can be read here: http:\/\/www.fpb.org.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Final-Ruling-Inxeba-The-wound-23-February-2018-1.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n The Congress of Traditional Leaders (Contralesa) Gauteng, The Man and Boy Foundation and The Appeals Tribunal have filed notice that they will oppose the interdict.<\/p>\n \u201cGiven the current rating of the film, it is also illegal and a criminal offence punishable by a 5 year prison sentence to view it anywhere on any platform, either free or paid for, legitimate or pirated. We are working hard to find legal means to make it available to fans.\u201d said Helen Kuun, MD of Indigenous Film Distribution.<\/p>\n She also noted with concern that while Contralesa Gauteng and The Man and Boy Foundation, both of which filed an appeal with the tribunal based on the perceived cultural insensitivity towards the Xhosa initiation tradition, requested a revised rating of 18, the Appeals Tribunal reclassified the film as X18, meaning that it can only be distributed from designated adult premises (sex shops), and forcing the immediate removal of the film from cinemas.<\/p>\n \u201cWe find this ruling sinister, as the \u2018X18\u2019 rating was not requested by the appellants, and it cannot be reasonably justified by anyone who has seen the film,\u201d Kuun added. \u201cIt is also worrying that the Appeals Tribunal reached this decision without giving the distributor and producer a proper opportunity to make submissions on the matter. This is plainly unlawful.\u201d<\/p>\n Among the reasons for the reclassification, were the Appeals Tribunal\u2019s finding that there was no \u201cscientific, educational and artistic value\u201d in the film. \u201cSince there was no explanation on how the Tribunal reached this specific conclusion, it\u2019s not easy to respond to it,\u201d said producer Cait Pansegrouw. \u201cWhat I can say is that it would be difficult to argue that our film lacks artistic value, given that it has won 20 awards of excellence internationally and within South Africa. Harvard University, Oxford University, various South African tertiary institutions, and local movements such as Equal Education also have showed interest in including \u2018Inxeba\u2019 in their curriculums and programmes.\u201d<\/p>\n Kuun says that distributor (Indigenous Film Distribution) and producers (Urucu Media) and their legal team (Webber Wentzel) will be in court next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Following the tardy release by the Appeals Tribunal of its reasons for reclassifying the film \u2018Inxeba\u2019 (The Wound), the film\u2019s producers, through its attorneys Webber Wentzel, served a law suit on Saturday, 24 February, seeking an urgent interdict overturning the reclassification of the film. You can read the application here: http:\/\/www.indigenousfilm.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Complete-Affadavit-INXEBA-Webber-Wentzel-compressed.pdf The FPB has since… Continue reading Inxeba – FPB Distances Itself From Appeals Tribunal<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6250\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}