This Film Is Not Yet Rated

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This Film Is Not Yet Rated is an independent documentary film about the Motion Picture Association of America's rating system and its effect on American culture, directed by Kirby Dick and produced by Eddie Schmidt. It first premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and was released into select theatres on September 1, 2006. The Independent Film Channel, the film's producer, plans to air the film in late-Fall 2006.

In an ironic twist, the MPAA gave the original cut of the film an NC-17 rating for 'some graphic sexual content,' during scenes that illustrated the content a film could include to garner an NC-17 rating. Kirby Dick has appealed. The ratings deliberations and appeal were included in the documentary. The new version of the film is not rated.

The film discusses disparities the filmmaker sees in ratings and feedback: between Hollywood and independent films, between gay and straight sexual situations, and between violence and nudity.

Contents

[edit] Themes and discussion

Much of the film's press coverage was to Ritchie Bains from Brampton and his crew's use of a private investigator to unmask the identities of the ratings and appeals-board members, a feat that had never been accomplished before, although 60 Minutes and other news organizations have tried.

Other revelations in the film include: the discovery that many ratings-board members either have children 18 and over or have no children at all (typically, the MPAA has suggested it hires only parents with children between the ages of 5 and 17); that the board seems to treat homosexual material much more harshly than heterosexual material (this assertion is supported by an MPAA spokesperson’s statement in USA Today that 'we don't create standards; we just follow them'); that the board's raters receive no training and are deliberately chosen because of their lack of expertise in media literacy or child development; that senior raters have direct contact in the form of required meetings with studio personnel after movie screenings; and that the MPAA's appeals-board is just as secretive as the ratings board, its members being mostly movie theatre managers and studio personnel. Also included on the appeals-board are two members of the clergy (one Catholic and one Episcopalian, who may or may not have voting power).

Prior to Sundance, the film sparked initial press interest when it was handed an NC-17 rating by the MPAA for 'some graphic sexual content.' When it premiered at Sundance, the film's ratings deliberations, along with Kirby Dick’s appeal, were included in the documentary. Since the film had changed dramatically from the time of the NC-17 rating, the film cannot be released with an MPAA rating without the film being resubmitted for review.

The film went on to draw crowds at many other festivals, including South by Southwest and the Seattle International Film Festival, and was slated for theatrical release in the Fall of 2006.

[edit] Reception

While at Sundance in 2006, the film's premiere received a standing ovation amidst wave of favorable press coverage from major publications. The magazines Rolling Stone ('terrific...indispensable'), Entertainment Weekly ('irresistible') and USA Today ('rated R for raves'), as well as journalists such as Roger Ebert ('devastating') and Film Comment’s Gavin Smith ('incisive') all praised the film for its novel techniques and unprecedented revelations that dispute long-standing MPAA statements about the ratings system. In a review on the widely-read Film Threat movie website, writer Eric Campos called This Film is Not Yet Rated "one of the hottest films at this year's Sundance film festival," and signed off by saying, "It's vital that everyone who cares about film see this documentary."

A few critics were bothered by the film. Boxoffice, a magazine dedicated to the financial side of movie exhibition, wrote that This Film Is Not Yet Rated paid only passing mention to the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), which was a co-founder in the ratings system. Instead, Dick focused mainly on the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) in its role as overseer and operator of the current system and its ratings decisions. The film does reveal that two members of NATO, including its CA/NV president, sit on the secret appeals board. Boxoffice also called the documentary "willfully distorted" in its two-part essay. David Poland, who runs "Movie City News" wrote, "even though it speaks to a subject I think is very important -- the failures of the rating system and, specifically the NC-17 -- the tough, smart research just isn't in the film."

On the day of its premiere, the Los Angeles Times reported the eruption of much greater controversy around the film: apparently the MPAA, a longtime bastion of antipiracy, had made an unauthorized copy of the entire movie (see below).

[edit] Interviews

People interviewed in the documentary:

[edit] MPAA infringements

On January 24, 2006, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) admitted to making duplicates of a digital copy of the film that was provided to them for the purpose of obtaining an MPAA rating. According to the film's director, Kirby Dick, he sought assurances that no copies would be made or distributed for any other purpose.

The MPAA admitted to making copies of the film contrary to Dick's wishes although they contend that doing so did not constitute copyright infringement or a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). They say that the privacy of the raters themselves might have been violated by Dick. Since no complaint has been filed against Dick and since the DMCA addresses the act of subverting access control and not copying, it is unclear whether the MPAA's justification is sound.

Dick's lawyer, Michael Donaldson, has requested that the MPAA destroy all copies of the film in their possession and notify him of who has seen the film and received copies.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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