KINEMATOGRAPH FILMS

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 73, 19 December 1928, Page 12

KINEMATOGRAPH FILMS

CENSORSHIP AND REGISTRATION REGULATIONS GAZETTED Regulations dealing with the censorship and registration of films under the Kinematograph Films Act, 1928, were gazetted last night. These set out in detail how application is to be made for censorship and registration and prescribe the fees payable by applicants. The application form, which is to accompany the films, requires among other things, a statement as to whether previous excisions have or have not been made in the films; an indication of the class of audience to which it'is proposed to exhibit them; and an intimation of the nature of registration desired. Applications for registration as British films must set out the facts on which the claim is based. A British film has to satisfy the following requirements:—lt must have been made by a person, or two or more persons British subjects at the time of manufacture, or by a British company; the studio scenes must have been photographed in a studio in the British Empire; the author of the scenario must have been a British subject at the time the film was made; not less than 75 per cent, of the salaries, wages, and payments specifically paid for labour and services in the making of the film (exclusive of payments in respect of copyright and- of the salary or payments to one foreign actor or actress or producer, but inclusive of the payments to the author of the scenario) has been paid to British subjects or to-persons domiciled in the British Empire. In the case of a film the exhibition of which is intended to be accompanied by a mechanical reproduction of sound, the applicant, if required by the censor, is to arrange, at his own expense, for the examination to take place at a theatre in Wellington adapted for the production. Where excisions are made by the censor, the applicant is required to forward to him all other copies of the films in question in order that corresponding “cuts” may be made. Portions which have been excised from a film prior to its submission are to be forwarded to the censor, who will be entitled to retain them, together with the “cuts” he himself decides upon.

A certificate of approval may be issued with the recommendation or subject to the condition that the film be exhibited to adult audiences only, and in those cases it will be the duty of the renter to advise the exhibitor of that requirement, while the exhibitor, will have to display a notice to that effect, in his theatre and include it in all his advertisements. Provision is included in the regulations for appeals from the decisions of the censor and registrar, who will be the same official during the term of the regulations, which are to become operative on January 1 next.