Some South African film trivia for you:
A South African Censorship History Timeline 1913 ~ 2007
1913
The Local Censorship Ordinance Act of 1913 is promulgated.
1931
The National Censorship Act of 1931 is passed into law which demands that “all cinematographic material be cleared before exhibition”.
1934
The SA Censorship Board is established.
1951
Zoltan Korda’s locally filmed “Cry The Beloved Country” is temporarily banned due to Ministerial complaints about its’ content.
1951
Anna Sewell’s classic novel “Black Beauty” is banned by the Censors due to its’ title alone.
1963
The SA Publications Control Board (PCB) is established with the 80 year old Professor Gerrit Dekker as its’ head, who later retires, and Adv. Jannie Kruger is appointed in his place. Professor T T Cloete, one of SA’s foremost writers and poets is appointed a censor.
1963
Ralph Nelson’s “Lillies of The Field” with Sidney Poitier is banned and remains so, even after Poitier is awarded the Best Actor Oscar for his role in this charming film. It is later unbanned in 1973.
1964
Cy Endfield’s “Zulu” with Sir Stanley Baker and Sir Michael Caine is banned for screening to “natives” for fear that it might “incite them to violence”.
1965
Elmo de Witt’s “Debbie” runs the censorship gauntlet as the PCB impose first one, then another high age restriction on this simple tale of a naïve farm girl falling pregnant in Pretoria. Kruger’s comment on the film is that “No Afrikaans girl ever gets pregnant out of wedlock”. The film is available on tape today with no age restriction at all.
1965
The PCB orders all foreign embassies in SA to submit all films in their posession to it for scrutiny, and possible censorship and/or banning.
1965
Guy Green’s “A Patch Of Blue” is banned for daring to show relationships across the colour line ~ in this case, the unconditional love of a blind white girl for a person of colour who loves her in return. This film continued the vogue of censoring or banning almost all of the films that Sidney Poitier starred in.
1965
Sidney Lumet’s “The Pawnbroker” is banned ~ the reason given by the PCB is that “it is offensive to see a “Bantu” female baring her breasts for a white man”.
1968
Three of Sidney Poitier’s films ~ “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner”, “In The Heat Of The Night” and “To Sir, With Love” are banned by the PCB this year. Other films banned include “The Graduate”, “Blow Up”, “Finian’s Rainbow, “Witchfinder General” and “Bonnie and Clyde” ~ all internationally acclaimed and award-winning films which South Africans were not permitted to see.
1968
Jans Rautenbach’s “Die Kandidaat” (SA’s first political thriller) is released only after the Security Police seize a copy of it to check if cuts ordered by the PCB were effected.
1969
The 1963 Publications and Entertaiments Act is amended.
1970
Ken Russell’s “Women In Love” is heavily cut and Martin Ritt’s “The Great White Hope” is banned for its’ depiction of love across the colour bar.
1970
Mario Schiess’ “Onwettige Huwelik” is almost banned this year, with the head of the PCB stating that the film is undesirable due to the fact that “there has never been, nor will there ever be an unlawful marriage in SA”.
1970
The PCB’s annual report states that since its’ inception, 1600 films have been severely cut and 300 films banned.
1971
The harsh brand of SA censorship is debated both in Parliament and in the media this year. Ken Russell’s “The Devils” and Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange” are both banned as are “The Immortal Story”, “Billy Jack”, “Soldier Blue” and “The Dunwich Horror”, among others.
1972
Peter Henkel’s “Three Bullets For A Long Gun” earns itself the dubious homour of becoming the first SA film to be banned.
1972
Uncensored in flight films are screened on all of SA’s overseas flights, leading to fits of apoplexy at the PCB who have no jurisdiction over this. In the same year, Dr Connie Mulder states that “the powers of the PCB will be increased if need be……………South Africa must not become the dumping ground for money hungry pornographers”.
1973
The interracial sex scenes between Roger Moore and Gloria Hendry in Guy Hamilton’s James Bond thriller “Live & Let Die” are cut from the SA release print. Bernardo Bertolucci’s “Last Tango In Paris” is banned in SA, but released uncut at a casino in Swaziland ~ Dr Connie Mulder threatens “serious action” against those who would dare cross the border to view this film.
1973
Films banned this year include “Shaft In Africa”, “The Wicker Man”and “The Big Boss”, the latter film starring Bruce Lee.
1973
PCB chief Jannie Kruger denies that censorship exists in any form in SA ~ he is quoted as saying that “SA has no censorship system of any kind, we merely have a system of publications control”.
1974
Ralph Nelson’s anti~SA film “The Wilby Conspiracy” starring Sidney Poitier and Michael Caine (filmed in Kenya with Nairobi substituting for Johannesburg) is banned, as are “The Exorcist”, “Enter The Dragon”, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “Blazing Saddles”.
1974
SA filmmaker Sven Persson’s “Land Apart”is banned and is almost totally re-shot, finally finding release under the title “The South Africans”.
1974
The 1974 Publications and Entertainments Act is promulgated in Parliament and remains in force until 1994.
1974
The Publications Appeal Board (PAB) is established this year ~ in theory, its’ establishment creates a higher court of appeal by filmmakers and distributors to contact if their films were banned or cut: in reality, it is just another censor board with more frightening powers than the PCB.
1975
Among the films banned this year, one finds “The Whispering Death”, “The Devil’s Rain”, “Race With The Devil” and “The Trial Of Billy Jack”. Manie Van Rensburg’s local political comedy “Die Square” is banned
1976
The PCB orders that no less than 30 cuts be made to the award-winning film “All The President’s Men” but has to retreat from this decision when the film’s producer and star Robert Redford angrily attacks them, threatening to lead a boycott against SA exhibition of USA films. The film is released uncut.
1976
Judge J H “Lammie” Snyman is appointed head of the PAB this year ~ heralding a new period in censorship history as films, books, magazines and music are banned left, right and centre, sometimes without reason.
1976
USA filmmaker Richard Donner takes the Censor Board to task this year over the huge number of cuts ordered to his film “The Omen”.
1977
Moustapha Akhad’s “Mohammed Messenger Of God” and Richard Brooks’ “Looking For Mr Goodbar” are banned.
1977
A legal clause stating that “it is an offence to prejudice, influence or anticipate the decisions of the Publications Directorate” is added to the Publications and Entertainments Act this year. Ripples of horror run through the government this year as polls indicate that the majority of South Africans wish cinemas to be open on Sundays.
1978
Jack Gold’s “The Medusa Touch” is the film which causes most problems for the censors this year with its’ depiction of a homicidal maniac (Richard Burton) who kills by thought and who is seen to be immortal even after he is supposedly been killed. The PCB states that the film would only be released if the final scene “where evil is seen to triumph” is cut, but the film is released uncut, albeit with a very high age restriction.
1979
James Fargo’s locally filmed “Game For Vultures” is banned this year as “its’ screening might endanger the security of the State”.
1980
Judge J H Snyman retires this year and Professor Kobus van Rooyen is appointed in his place. Snyman’s last act as Chief Censor is to ban the Pink Floyd album “The Wall”. “Dressed To Kill” and “Friday The 13th” are also banned.
1981
The films “The Howling” and the locally filmed “The Grass Is Singing” are banned.
1982
The Department of Home Affairs announces this year that “South Africa has the strictest censorship system in the world”.
1983
Roger Spottiswoode’s “Under Fire”is banned ~ the excuse given is that “the film might sow the seeds of revolution in South Africa”.
1984
The Directorate of Publications orders that all video distribution slipsheets be submitted to them for possible censorship before usage.
1985
The 1974 Publications and Entertainments Act is amended.
1986
ACTAG (the Anti-Censorship Action Group) is formed and there is a serious request from the head of the Islamic Council in SA to the PCB to request that the Bible be banned, due to the “lurid and pornographic” passages in the Song of Solomon.
1986
Gray Hofmeyr’s locally filmed “Jock of The Bushveld” is banned in Zimbabwe.
1987
A new age restriction for films rears its’ head this year as Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket” is released uncut, but with a no persons 2 to 21 age restriction on it.
1988
Sir Richard Attenborough’s controversial “Cry Freedom” is passed by the PCB but is later seized by the Security Police.
1988
SA filmmakers Darrell Roodt’s “The Stick” and Andrew Worsdale’s “Shot Down” are banned this year and the Publications and Entertaiments Act is amended. Chris Menges’ anti-South African film “A World Apart” (based on lives of Joe Slovo and Ruth First, starring Barbara Hershey and Jeroen Krabbe) is also banned.
1989
Cedric Sundstrom’s “The Shadowed Mind” and Euzhan Palcy’s “A Dry, White Season” are banned this year while the anti-South African action comedy “Lethal Weapon 2” (in which South African diplomats are portrayed as gun runners, Krugerrand smugglers and killers) is released uncut here and becomes the box-office hit of the year.
1989
Professor Kobus Van Rooyen resigns as the head of the PAB after the fracas over the seizing of “Cry Freedom” ~ unconfirmed reports at the time suggested that his house was also fire-bombed and his life threatened.
1989
Martin Scorsese’s controversial “The Last Temptation of Christ” is banned.
1990
Advocate Louis Pienaar replaces Professor Kobus van Rooyen as the PAB head this year but resigns after a period of six months.
1991
Professor Dan Morkel is appointed the new head of the PAB.
1992
Paul Verhoeven’s “Basic Instinct” is released uncut in South Africa this year ~ this act immediately causes a relaxation of the censorship laws in this country.
1993
The Weekly Mail Film Festival highlights SA censorship this year at its’ “Limits Of Liberty” festival and the PCB head, Dr Abraham Coetzee is a guest speaker who was booed off the stage.
1993
Despite a relaxation of the oppressive censorship laws, several films are banned for television screenings, including the local productions “The Stick”, “Place of Weeping” and “Zulu”.
1994
The Freedom of Expression Institute is established ~ an amalgamation of ACTAG and the Campaign For Open Media.
1994
Ex PAB chief Dr Kobus van Rooyen urges that the 20 year old Publications and Entertainments Act either be revised or scrapped altogether.
1994
As the era of democracy dawns in SA, the newly appointed Minister Of Home Affairs, Dr Mangosuthu Buthelezi states in Parliament that “never again in this country will anyone decide what any rational and intelligent beings may or may not watch, read or hear”.
1995
The 1994 Publications and Entertainments Bill is gazetted this year and the activities of the PCB and the PAB are slowly wound down.
1995
The Arts and Culture Task Group’s report is submitted to the GNU this year, advising that the old censorship system be scrapped entirely but that a new, representative board be appointed in its’ place.
1996
In a landmark ruling, the SA Supreme Court states that the possession of so-called “pornographic” books, magazines, films and videos is no longer illegal.
1997
Much of the once banned and undesirable films are released to home video, such as the long banned “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “A Clockwork Orange”
1999
The SA Censor Board arises in a new guise this year in a more representative and more public face as the “Film and Publications Board” (FPB)
2003
The 1994 Film and Publications Act is amended this year (with particular relevance to making the production, possession and selling of child pornography illegal) and the FPB makes its’ own advert to be used in cinemas and VHS/DVD rentals, using footage and audio from the eerie film “The Others”, starring Nicole Kidman. The tagline on the adverts is: “The effect lasts long after the film is over. Age restrictions are there for a reason. We inform, you choose.”
2005
The Department of Home Affairs threatens to impose censorship on all television programmes screened in SA.
2006
Rumours circulate in the media that a return to the days of pre-transmission and publication censorship of all media by Government is imminent.
2007
In addition to the current censor warnings (S, L, V, P, N) on film posters and video slipsheets, the FPB announces a new symbol, that of B, for films which contain blasphemy. The Film and Publications Act is also amended, this time with input from the public.
SOUTH AFRICAN FILM INDUSTRY TRIVIA
1896 ~ 2006
1. The S A film industry is the oldest in Africa and one of the oldest in the world ~ it officially started in May 1896.
2. The Anglo~Boer War (1899 ~ 1902) was the first conflict to be captured on motion picture film.
3. South Africa’s film production officially began in 1910 with the release of the film The Great Kimberley Diamond Robbery, a.k.a. The Star of The South.
4. The first African motion picture studio was established in 1913 in Johannesburg and was called African Film Productions. The “Killarney Mall” shopping centre and a Toyota dealership now stand on this site on Riveria Road, Johannesburg.
5. The African Mirror newsreel was first produced in 1913 by AFP ~ well known worldwide, it only ceased production in 1984; making it the most likely candidate for being the world’s longest running newsreel.
6. Harold Shaw’s De Voortrekkers a.k.a. Winning A Continent was released in 1916 and is the oldest, complete surviving feature film in Africa.
7. South Africa’s first sound full length feature films were entitled Sarie Marais and Moedertjie ~ released in 1931 and directed by Joseph Albrecht.
8. South Africa’s first feature film with an all-Black cast ~ Donald Swanson’s African Jim, a.k.a. Jim Comes To Jo’burg ~ was released in 1949.
9. The first South African musical genre film ~ Pierre de Wet’s Kom Saam, Vanaand ~ was released in 1949.
10. Africa’s first full length feature film in colour ~ Jamie Uys’ Daar Doer In Die Bosveld ~ was released in 1951.
11. The first drive-in cinema in South Africa ~ the ‘Johannesburg Drive-In’ ~ was established by Max Jude in 1951.
12. “Inrybelange” (Pvt) Ltd. is established in 1957 ~ later to become known as Ster Films.
13. Ken Annakin’s The Hellions is released in 1961. Starring Richard Todd, Lionel Jeffries and co-produced by Jamie Uys, it is South Africa’s first film in the Western genre.
14. The South African Censor Board ~ known officially as the ‘Publications Control Board’ or PCB for short ~ is established in 1963.
15. South African actress Truida Pohl becomes the first woman to direct a full length feature film ~ entitled Die Man In Die Donker ~ in 1963.
16. The National Film Board is established in 1964 ~ one of its’ divisions is the SA Film Institute, which would later become known as the National Film, Video and Sound Archives.
17. Cy Endfield’s Zulu ~ with Sir Stanley Baker, Michael Caine and Dr Mangosuthu Buthelezi ~ is released to worldwide success in 1964. The film is banned for screenings to Black South Africans by the Minister of ‘Native Affairs’ as “the screening thereof might encourage them to rise up in revolt.”
18. Elmo de Witt’s Debbie, based on the novel Groen Koring by Tryna du Toit, runs the censorship gauntlet in 1965 as the PCB impose first one, then another audience attendance restriction on a simple tale of forbidden love between a doctor and a university student.
19. The S A Parliament and the Afrikaans media denounce the S A cinema as ‘the American influenced anti-Christ’ in 1966. In this period and later, there are calls by various parties for cinemas to be shut down and that should this not be possible, that all imported films have their soundtracks dubbed into Afrikaans. There is however one entirely sane request among all this hysteria: there are calls made for a subsidy system to encourage film production in South Africa.
20. The Cape Town born cinematographer Ted Moore becomes the first South African to win an Academy Award for his work on the film A Man For All Seasons (1966) in 1967.
21. Sanlam and the Schlesinger Organization buy out the 20th Century Fox franchise in South Africa in 1969 and create a rival film distribution company to Ster Films, named “Kinekor”.
22. The restrictions imposed on filmmakers by the PCB invade almost every section of life in South Africa during the 1970’s as censorship’s grip closes even tighter on not only the film industry, but also the publishing, broadcasting and recording media. Further restrictions occur in 1974 when the Publications Appeal Board is established.
23. In 1972, Peter Henkel’s Three Bullets For A Long Gun becomes the first South African feature film to be banned.
24. South African filmmaker David Millin is admitted to the American Society of Cinematographers in 1972.
25. When U’Deliwe is released in 1974, it becomes the first full length feature film directed by a Black South African, Simon M. Sabela. Gibson Kente’s How Long follows close on its’ heels.
26. The establishment of a television service in South Africa in 1975 proves almost disastrous for the local film industry.
27. The Metro cinema group is established by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1975.
28. Former SA film industry rivals Ster and Kinekor merge in 1977 to form Ster~Kinekor Films.
29. The South African government bans the screening of films on Sundays in 1977, citing the 1898 “Sunday Observance Act” in its’ defence. Cinemas countrywide remain shut on Sundays until 1993, but video rental stores ~ somehow exempt from this law ~ do good business in the 1980’s.
30. After tremendous battles both in the media and in Parliament, the National Film Board is closed down in 1979, but one of its’ divisions ~ the SA Film Institute, later to be re-named the National Film Archives ~ is permitted to continue with its’ duties.
31. South African film producer Paul Kemp wins an Academy Award in 1982 (“Best Live Action Short Feature”) for the American Film Institute production Violet.
32. Jamie Uys’ The Gods Must Be Crazy becomes a world-wide success from 1983 to 1984.
33. The “Hollyveld” (films made locally by exploitation filmmakers, supposedly shot in the USA) film boom strikes South Africa in 1985.
34. Cinemas officially become multi-racial as from 1986, partly as a result of a threatened worldwide ban on film distribution in South Africa.
35. The Israeli film distribution company New Century Entertainment buys out the Metro cinema chain in South Africa in 1986 and re-names it Nu-Metro Cinemas.
36. Sir Richard Attenborough’s Cry Freedom is a box-office disaster in 1987. The film’s passing by the PCB in 1988 leads the Bureau For State Security to order the Police to seize copies of the film from cinemas and their respective distribution offices. The film is not seen in South Africa until 1991.
37. Richard Donner’s Lethal Weapon 2 is released in 1989. Starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, this anti-South African feature film, masquerading as a police action comedy, is a worldwide success (surprisingly in South Africa as well, where it is screened uncut) and was the only anti-South African film to be a success where other far more serious attempts to highlight apartheid, such as Euzhan Palcy’s A Dry White Season, Chris Menges’ A World Apart and Cry Freedom failed.
38. The revelations of the so-called ‘film subsidy’ scandal cause major problems for the industry in the early 1990’s as company after company is shut down and the industry goes into a serious tailspin from which it is only recently recovering.
39. The dawn of a new dispensation in South Africa in 1994 spells the end for the once all powerful censor boards, both of whom are later replaced by the more representative but no less powerful ‘Film and Publications Board’.
40. South African born filmmaker Jon Blair wins an Academy Award for “Best Documentary Feature” for his film Anne Frank Remembered in 1996.
41. South Africa holds its’ first film and television market ~ “Sitenghi” ~ in 1996.
42. South African born filmmaker Eric Abraham wins an Academy Award for ‘Best Foreign Feature Film’ for his Czechoslovakian production of Jan Sverak’s Kolya in 1997.
43. A film retrospective of the careers of filmmakers Emil Nofal and Jans Rautenbach is showcased at the Klein Karoo Arts Festival in 1998.
44. The huge Kyknet / MNet film digitization project is launched by the NFA and MNet in 1999 ~ after four years, the upshot of all this effort is that almost 98% of all the feature films in the NFA holdings are transferred to digital video at an estimated cost of R6 million. The NFA’s failing holdings building facilities are also upgraded to state-of-the-art facilities at a cost of R5 million.
45. The National Film and Video Foundation is launched in 1999.
46. The NFA’s Outreach Program is launched in 2001.
47. South African born screenwriter and playwright Ronald Harwood wins an Academy Award for his screenplay for Roman Polanski’s The Pianist in 2003.
48. The NFA turns forty in 2004.
49. South African actress Charlize Theron wins an Academy Award as “Best Actress” for her portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wournous in Monster in 2004, becoming the first South African actress to win such an award.
50. Darrell Roodt’s Yesterday becomes the first South African feature film to be nominated for an Academy Award ~ in this case, the category “Best Foreign Feature” in 2005, losing to Spain’s The Sea Inside.
51. Gavin Hood’s Tsotsi wins the “Best Foreign Feature Film” Academy Award in 2006 while, at the same ceremony, South African raised cameraman Dion Beebe wins an award for his cinematography on Rob Marshall’s Memoirs of A Geisha.
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