Movie News

I Miss You, Hugs and Kisses is a 1978 Canada mystery drama by Murray Markowitz
Starring Elke Sommer, Donald Pilon and Chuck Shamata

Briefly banned as a video nasty in 1984. A cut version was released on VHS in 1984 and 1986.

Thanks to Richard:

I saw this video from YouTube about the BeyondFest Festival. At the end (at 41m32s) they show a brief video clip of what US Severin are releasing in 2022, the pool scene in a red tint is from I Miss You. I got out my VHS rip to check and it's the same.

Delirium is a 1979 USA thriller by Peter Maris.
Starring Turk Cekovsky, Debi Chaney and Terry TenBroek.    

Banned as a video nasty in 1983 until 1985. Passed 18 after BBFC cuts for 1987 18 rated VHS. Not released in the UK since.

This film is also set to be released by US Severin in the next few months.

Benedetta is a 2021 France/Belgium/Netherlands historical romance by Paul Verhoeven
Starring Virginie Efira, Charlotte Rampling and Daphne Patakia

A 17th-century nun in Italy suffers from disturbing religious and erotic visions. She is assisted by a companion, and the relationship between the two women develops into a romantic love affair.

When US Catholics got wind of the fact that provocative film director Paul Verhoeven's latest film, Benedetta , contains scenes in which a statue of the Virgin Mary is used as a dildo, Catholic reacted with outrage, and the Catholic League, headed by Bill Donohue, expressed horror over the glowing reviews the movie was garnering.

At the weekend the movie premiered at the 59th New York Film Festival, and those attending it had to run the gauntlet of noisy protesters who claimed the movie was blasphemous. It was reported that the protesters were repeatedly saying Hail Marys into megaphones.

I Am Samuel is a 2020 Kenya / Canada / UK / USA documentary by Peter Murimi
Starring Steve Zahn, Jillian Bell and Sasha Knight  

Filmed verite style over five years, I Am Samuel is an intimate portrait of a Kenyan man torn between balancing duty to his family with his dreams for his future.

The Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) has banned the gay documentary I am Samuel claiming that it sought to propagate values that are in dissonance with our constitution, culture values and norms. KFCB boss Christopher Wambua declared the film to be blasphemous and added:

Worse still, the production is demeaning of Christianity as two gay men in the film purport to conduct a religious marriage invoking the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Directed by a Kenyan filmmaker, I Am Samuel depicts a romantic relationship between two men living in Nairobi and promotes same-sex marriage as an acceptable way of life.

Born in 1914 at the dawn of cinema, Italy's censorship law felled some cinematic giants including Last Tango in Paris , but is now set to be awarded a 'rejected' rating, as unsuitable for a modern audience.

Film censorship has been abolished, announced culture minister Dario Franceschini in a statement:

The system of controls and interventions that still allow the state to intervene in the freedom of artists has been definitively ended.

As a result, it will now no longer be possible to block the release of a new film or demand edits for moral or religious reasons.

Filmmakers will instead classify their own movies with an age rating. Their decisions will be audited by a new commission made up of 49 members chosen from the film industry, but will be experts in education and animal rights.

According to a survey by Cinecensura , an online exhibition promoted by the culture ministry, 274 Italian films, 130 American movies and 321 from other countries have been banned in Italy since 1944. More than 10,000 were cut in some way, including works by directors such as Federico Fellini. However the last major case of censorship was in 1998 with the blasphemous and grotesque Toto Who Lived Twice , which was strongly criticised by Catholics.