Cinecensura

FILM REVISION AND CUTS: CHANGES AND RETOUCHESi by Maurizio Negri

Law n. 938, December 20, 1949, determined that all types of film destined for public screening were to be provided with a censorship licence. This was to be issued by ministerial decree according to the provisions of Law n. 161, April 21, 1962, which also set a rating system. Therefore, along with the possibility of total ban, restrictions for children under 14 (16 according to the older legislation) or 18 years of age were determined. Of course, all those works that incur restrictions may appeal; if the result of the new revision is negative or dissatisfactory, authors/producers can still resubmit their work provided that the title as well as film and dialogue portions are substituted. This procedure is implemented to revise restrictions applied to old films when audience sensitivity is judged to have matured, but mainly to allow for TV commercial exploitation of motion pictures. The need to obtain authorizations (in prime time for general audiences, after 8:30 pm for works rated PG-14) has encouraged indiscriminate cuts, with the result of distorting the identity of cinematic works. Between 1960 and 2013, 1,183 Italian productions and 976 foreign productions were submitted to film revision with a request of re-editing.
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