THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED

It's official - The Sundance Film Festival has announced its 2006 slate, and IFC will be there. Our original documentary, "This Film Is Not Yet Rated", has been selected to premiere at the festival.

It's a great film, directed by Academy Award Nominee, Kirby Dick and Produced by Eddie Schmidt, Executive Produced by Alison Bourke and yours truly.  Like IFC, it's bound to be a bit controversial, as you can note from the following press release.

We're enormously proud, to say the least, but not just because of the recognition from the folks at the festival.  "Not Yet Rated" takes on some important issues, long unaddressed, about who and how films are allowed to be seen in this country.  It's a system that is so secret, virtually no one can discern its rules and regulations.  Following the lead of our talented director, we decided to pull back the curtain and dare to ask the question "Why?"

Stay tuned for more information, but for now, here's the release...

NEW YORK, NY, December 7, 2005 – IFC, the first and largest network dedicated to independent film, announced today that the IFC Original Documentary, “This Film Is Not Yet Rated,” from Academy Award-nominated director Kirby Dick and producer Eddie Schmidt, will premiere at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and air on IFC in Fall 2006.  The documentary, a breakthrough investigation into the MPAA film ratings system and its profound effect on American culture, is executive produced by IFC’s Alison Palmer Bourke and Evan Shapiro.

On November 30, the ratings board, an anonymous group whose mandate is to classify films for the MPAA from the perspective of “the average American parent,” screened this documentary and gave it an NC-17 rating for “some graphic sexual content.”  An NC-17 rating generally limits a film’s avenues of exhibition: many theater chains will not show it, media outlets will not run its advertisements and video store chains will not stock it. 

IFC, however, will present the film uncensored and uninterrupted. Alison Palmer Bourke, IFC’s VP of Documentaries and Features states: “Kirby’s film is a natural for IFC.  Our 'tv, uncut.' mandate is to give filmmakers a platform for free expression, and we let our viewers decide for themselves what is appropriate and of interest to them."

Kirby Dick agrees, “It is important that this film be seen by as many people as possible, as it deals with an insidious form of censorship resulting from a ratings process that has been kept secret for more than 30 years.”

The documentary asks whether Hollywood movies and independent films are rated equally for comparable content; whether sexual content in gay-themed movies is given harsher ratings penalties than their heterosexual counterparts; whether it makes sense that extreme violence is given an R rating while sexuality is banished to the cutting room floor;  whether Hollywood studios receive detailed directions as to how to change an NC-17 film into an R, while independent film producers are left guessing; and finally, whether keeping the raters and the rating process secret leaves the MPAA entirely unaccountable for its decisions.

The MPAA has established itself as the lobbying arm of the American motion picture, home video and television industries in the US since its inception in 1922.  On its board of directors are the Chairmen and Presidents of the seven major producers and distributors of motion picture and television programs in the United States - Sony, WB, Paramount, MGM, Fox, Disney and Universal.  When Jack Valenti became president of the MPAA in 1966, he created a rating system to replace the old Hays code, first adopted in 1930.  Valenti’s voluntary rating system, modified only slightly over the years, has become an icon in American culture, with its letter ratings of G, PG, PG-13, R, and NC-17 (formerly X) used to classify films according to age-based appropriateness. 

Until today’s announcement, the subject matter of “This Film Is Not Yet Rated” was kept under wraps by the filmmakers during more than a year of research into the MPAA’s rating practices.  Director Kirby Dick (“Twist of Faith,” “Derrida”) interviews filmmakers, critics, attorneys, authors and educators.  Ultimately, Dick tries to uncover Hollywood's best kept secret -- the identities of the ratings board members themselves.

Filmmakers who speak candidly in “This Film Is Not Yet Rated” include John Waters (“A Dirty Shame”), Kevin Smith (“Clerks”), Matt Stone (“South Park”), Kimberly Peirce (“Boys Don’t Cry”), Atom Egoyan (“Where the Truth Lies”), Darren Aronofsky (“Requiem for a Dream”), Mary Harron (“American Psycho”), actress Maria Bello (“The Cooler”) and distributor Bingham Ray (co-founder, October Films and former President, United Artists).

When Jack Valenti stepped down in September 2004, Dan Glickman succeeded him as president and CEO.  However, Valenti continued to supervise the ratings process until September 2005, when the MPAA announced that it would be splitting its leadership duties between Los Angeles-based president and COO, Bob Pisano, and Glickman, who has been appointed the Washington DC-based CEO and chairman and now oversees the ratings system.

“This Film Is Not Yet Rated” US theatrical rights and all international rights are available.

KIRBY DICK - Director
Kirby Dick’s recent documentary, “Twist Of Faith,” about a man who confronts the trauma of past sexual abuse by a Catholic priest, debuted in competition at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.  Dick’s previous film “Derrida,” a complex portrait of the world-renowned French philosopher, premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, won the Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco Film Festival and was released theatrically.  The prior year, Dick directed the innovative “Chain Camera,” a portrait of contemporary urban teenage life, which also premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival.  In 1997, he directed the internationally acclaimed “Sick:  The Life & Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist,” which won the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the Grand Prize at the Los Angeles Film Festival.  Released by Lion’s Gate Films, the film earned both an IFP/West Spirit Award Nomination and an International Documentary Association Nomination for Best Feature Documentary of 1998. 
   
EDDIE SCHMIDT -  Producer
Eddie Schmidt produced Kirby Dick’s Oscar nominated, Amnesty International award-winning documentary “Twist of Faith” as well as Dick’s acclaimed teenage mosaic, “Chain Camera.”  Schmidt also produced the explosive musical documentary “Showgirls:  Glitz & Angst” for HBO’s “America Undercover,” and the powerfully intimate hospice chronicle “The End,” which premiered at the 2004 South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival, for HBO/Cinemax’s “Reel Life.”  Other work includes producing stints on TV’s “Blind Date” and “The Competition,” as well as creating and producing original DVD content for films such as “Boogie Nights” and “Se7en.”  Schmidt has also been a contributor to National Public Radio’s popular series “This American Life.

Look for more information, coming soon.

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