If you’ve been following the site, you’ll know there’s been a bit of controversy over in Australia due to the The Australian Classification Board banning Travis Mathews’ gay-themed film I Want Your Love, which had been due to play Aussie queer film festivals.
However in a rather neat turn, the Melbourne Queer Film Festival has replaced I Want Your Love with Mathews’ recent collaboration with James Franco, Interior Leather Bar. It’s rather apt, as the movie partly deals with the fact 40 minutes of gay S&M footage are believed to have been cut from the 1980 Al Pacino movie Cruising, due to fears it would be too strong for audiences. Interior Leather Bar recreates that footage, and gets a bit meta with Franco and others discussing how people react to seeing gay sex on screen.
Franco also recently released a Youtube video calling on the Aussie censors to rethink their decision on I Want Your Love.
‘It’s a huge coup for us to be able to screen James and Travis’ brand new film. Given the recent banning of I Want your Love, a film about censorship couldn’t be more topical,’ said Melbourne Queer Film Festival director Lisa Daniel.
I Want Your Love was banned due to the Aussie Classification Board feeling it presented explicit sex without narrative context. However anyone who’s seen the film will realise that while no one says ‘This is why we’re having sex’, there’s plenty of context, with the movie exploring how sex works as part of gay life – as glue for a relationship, brief release, emotional support, etc. Indeed it’s pretty much all context.
My personal suspicion is that the Australian board was blinded by the fact I Want Your Love was co-produced by a company mainly known for porn – Naked Sword – and they may also be operating a double standard when it comes to gay sex, as several movies with real straight sex have gotten past their scrutiny (and even a documentary with men having sex with donkeys).
Interior Leather Bar, screens on Monday March 25th at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival.
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