Film Weekly 1963-64 year book : Canadian motion picture industry with television section (1963)

CENSORSHIP LAST year the National Committee of the Motion Picture Exhibitors Association of Canada put forward a resolution on censorship to the Mo¬ tion Picture Industry Council of Can¬ ada and it was carried unanimously. The resolution, noting that “the tastes of the Canadian public have grown to accept more mature films” and de¬ claring that “arbitrary censorship no longer serves a useful purpose,” put the MPICC on record as being "com¬ pletely opposed to the method of cen¬ sorship as presently practiced across Canada and that the same be re¬ placed by a system of classification of films for the guidance of the general public.” It should be noted that in the USA, where film censorship was declared illegal as an infringement on freedom of speech by the Supreme Court, the Motion Picture Association of America sees no merit in classification and considers it almost the same as censorship. In Canada film censorship is consi¬ dered part of provincial rights but television, governed federally, is free from provincial jurisdiction. This has brought about the absurd situation in which films for theatres must be sub¬ jected to examination, classified and "treated” if required by the censors. But the same films, telecast in Canada or from censorship-free USA, enter the home unexamined, unclassified and uncensored, there being no fede¬ ral TV censorship of any kind. Censors are beginning to yield to the times a little and be more liberal in their attitudes toward film content. However, their departments are still a source of revenue for provincial gov¬ ernments because of censorship fees. Provincial governments have not heed¬ ed the contention of distributors that censorship is a service and the fees should be based on operation costs. Quebec, from the most backward province in matters of film censor¬ ship, is becoming the most progres¬ sive one. The Provincial Government, on the recommendation of an impar¬ tial commission, has revised its cen¬ sorship board, eliminating part-time censors. It has adopted classification or outright rejection as a policy. CENSORSHIP BOARDS AND RATES BRITISH COLUMBIA CENSOR OF MOVING PICTURES 636 Burrard St., Vancouver, BC. (Mutual 4-4181. Local 56) Operates under the Department of the Attor¬ ney-General and Senior Officer is Hon. R. W. Bonner, QC, Attorney-General. Chief Censor is R. W. McDonald. Chief Inspector of Theatres is Basil O. Nixon, Provincial Fire Marshall, 411 Dunsmuir St., Van¬ couver. CENSORSHIP FEES 35 MM. — Silent films: $1.50 for the first 1,000 feet and 75 cents for each additional 500 feet or fraction thereof. Sound films: $4 for the first 1,000 feet and $2 for each additional 500 feet or fraction thereof. Additional prints: $3 for the first 1,000 feet and $1.50 for each additional 500 feet or fraction thereof. Trailers: $2 for each 500 feet or fraction thereof. Other (without film exchange licence and/or not mentioned previously): $6 for the first 1,000 feet and $3 for each additional 500 feet or fraction thereof. 16 MM. — Silent films: $1 for the first 400 feet and 50 cents for each additional 200 feet or fraction thereof. Sound films: $2 for the first 400 feet and $1 for each additional 200 feet or fraction thereof. Additional prints: $1.50 for the first 400 feet and 75 cents for each additional 200 feet or fraction thereof. Trailers: $1 for each 100 feet or fraction thereof. Other (without film exchange license and/or not mentioned previously) : $3 for the first 400 feet and $1.50 for each additional 200 feet or fraction thereof. APPEALS — $25 for each appeal. TELEVISION — Fees for films to be used for TV broadcasting are at the same rates as above. NEWSCLIP— $1.50 for each 500 feet or frac¬ tion thereof for newsclips added to a newsreel. Additional prints — $1 for each 500 feet or fraction thereof. AD FILMS — 50 cents for each 100 feet of film or fraction thereof for screen advertising film. SPECIAL FILMS — $5, or any lesser fee chargeable under these regulations, for each titled sub¬ ject of 35, 16 or 8 mm. film to be shown by an organization or society operating primarily for cultural, educational or chari¬ table purposes, to be shown not more than twice in the Province on a date or dates specified on a certificate from the Censor to accompany the film while in the Province, for the complete film. 152