5 4 LATIN AMERICA — FILMS PfiRlErY Wednesday, March 19,1980

Argentina Censors Ideas, Ignores Directors 'Fame'

Buenos Aires. In an exclusive interview, this,

visiting Variety man spoke to Dr. Alberto Leon, Director-General of the Ente de Calificacion Cinemato-grafica, more familiarly the Board of Censors. Dr. Leon has been in of­fice about 18 months, having re­placed at that time Miguel Tato.

Referring to a Variety question on the passing of "The Tin Drum" with less cuts than might be ex­pected, Dr. Leon asserted, "There have been no changes in censor­ship. The same parameters are used, which are in accordance with the times we live in. For national films, there are no forbidden films, no subject is nixed. Admittedly some subjects are more difficult and prurient and thus must be treated with more responsibility. We've been accused of being more severe with national films than for­eign ones, but that's a lie. If some national films fail, it's because peo­ple don't want to go out and see them. What the reason is for people not going is not for me to say. We treat national and foreign films the same. Maybe films are too expen­sive and that's why people don't go put."

Two Principal Aides Dr. Leon explained that in addi­

tion to himself as Director-General of the Ente there were two assist­ant directors. One of the three has to see all films presented. He re­vealed that he personally had viewed 500 films over the past year. Once one of the three has seen a film, it goes to an "assessory coun­cil" consisting of 36 members. A minimum of three persons then has to see the film, and they're the ones that make the final decision, not he. Filmmakers can appeal the board's decisions and send in a different version, and finally can take the case to law.

Asked whether the artistic quality of a film is taken into consideration, Dr. Leon aver­red that it was not. "All are judged in the same way," he said. "We.don't consider the fame of the director. They're all treated the same way, just like when a policeman hands out traffic tickets."

:! Replying to charges that Span­ish films had been treated with spe­cial severity, Dr. Leon remarked that if some had been rejected, it was npt because they were Spanish but because they came "alreadyi polluted."

Strictest? Perhaps! Variety asked whether it wasn't

true that Argentina had the strict­est censorship in all of Latin Amer­ica, to which Dr. Leon reluctantly replied, "Maybe that's true. But the law has been in effect for 10 years, and everyone knows the rules." Re­specting the cases of "Manhattan" and "Clockwork Orange," Dr. Leon commented, "If they don't want to show their films with the cuts, that's their problem."

On the prospects for 1980, Dr. Leon commented: "Classifica­tions will depend on the national and international political situations; it doesn't depend on cinema. As far as national films are concerned, Ar­gentinian cinema is the industry most promoted by the govern­ment. For 1980, there'll only be a change in relation to what the poli­tical circumstances permit. We don't use Middle Age standards. Little: by little there may be a liberalization, but that depends on the eontent'of films, which are tend­

ing to be increasingly stronger. "Censorship is always the same.

What has been advancing too quickly is filmmaking. After all, it is not that producers and distributors come to us with 10 films that we censor; it is that they come with ten censorable films. As for 'The Tin Drum,' it is natural that a film which wins a prize at Cannes, which they tell me is the most important film fest of the year, will do well at theboxoffice."

Aries Billings Up; Scores As Both A

Prod. And Distrib Buenos Aires.

Scoring best results both as a pro­ducer and distrib last year in Argentina was Aries Cinema-tografica, the organization run by a group of dynamic showmen, to wit, Hector Olivera, Fernando Ayala, Sandro Sessa and Luis Osvaldo Repetto. Olivera and Ayala, in addition to their managerial activi­ties, are also active as directors and have helmed some of Argentina's most prestigious features.

Aries has also purchased por-duction facilities and owns the large Baires Studios on the outskirts of Buenos Aires,

Remarked Olivera in an inter­view with Variety, "We've had a fabulous year, with four times the billings in 1979 of the previous year, thanks to the success of such pix as 'Experto en Pinchazos,' "The 39 Steps,' 'Xica da Silva,' 'Phantasm,' 'Los Exitos del Amor,' 'La Carpa del Amor' and 'Hitler, A Career'."

Added Sandro Sessa: 'We're planning to produce eight films this year. Among them will be three picaresque comedies with our stars Porcel and Olmedo, all three of them written and directed by Hugo Sofovich. Then we plan to lense two musical comedies, 'La Playa del

Amor' and 'La Discoteca del Amor' which are follow-ups on the pre­vious two hits made in conjunction withMicrofon."

He added that for "Playa del Amor" Aries planned to cast Cacho' Castana, Carlos Torre Vila, Katunga and possibly such foreign talent as Camilo Sesto, Rocia Dur-cal, Angela Carrasco and Judy Cheeks.

These are to be followed by two dramatic pictures to be directed by Fernando Ayala, "Desde el Abismo," toplining Thelma Biral, and then another pic with tv thesp Andrea del Boca based on story by Poldy Bird. Eighth pic will be helmed by Hector Olivera in copro-duction with Luiz Carlos Barreto of Brazil titled "La Casa Grande y la Casa Chica," with locations in southern Brazil and interiors in the Baires Studios in Buenos Aires. Script is also by Olivera.

There are numerous other proj­ects in the air, including one with Brazilian producer Walter Clark titled "Los Viernes de la Eterni-dad," based on an Argentinian novel by Maria Granata.

On distribution side, the Aries ex­ecs report that "The 39 Steps" sold over 800,000 tickets in a half year and that Rank's "The Lady Van­ishes" had also done extremely well.

Ready for release here are "Eagle's Wing, "Wombling Free," "Tarka the Otter," "Bad Timing," "Silver Dream Racer," "Run­ning," "The House on Garibaldi Street," "La Terrazza," "Phansm H," and others.

Censorship Troubles Anent the film situation in gen­

eral, all four complained about censorship and the denial of official subsidies for two of their sex com­edies, though they did receive loans for the two pix,

Olivera c o m m e n t e d : "Over the past decades there have been many subjects in Argentina that could have made fascinating films. To

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I 25 Biggest In Argentina 1 Buenos Aires.

Following is list of the top 25 grossing pix in Argentina nationwide from Jan. 1,1979 thru Nov. 30,1979, in spectators and thousands of pesos. On Nov. 30 official exchange rate was 1,568 pesos to the dollar, compared to 1,153 pesos on April 1,1979. Totals are for pix that ran, alone, at firstrun locations as well as where they ran in a double bill: TITLE ' TICKETS PESOS

1. Superman \ . . v..... 1,262,000 tix2,939,000 2. The Deerhunter . . . . : . . . . . . . 1,137,000 2,621,000 3. Dona Flor .. .915,565 1,685,000 4. Heaven Can Wait .....856,000 1333,000 5. Foul Play -831,000 1,953,000 6. The Silent Partner .841,000 1,562,000 7.JawsII 767,000 1,302,000 8. Death On the Nile C. .656,000 1,325,000 9. The 39 Steps .. .613,000 tix 1,580,000

10. Que Lio, Mama Se Fue de Casa (French, orig. title not avail) .613,000 1,049,000

11. Moonraker 497,000 1,322,000 12. Yo Soy Timido, Pero Me Defiendo

(French, orig. title not avail) 526,000 863,000 13. Pinocchio 466,000 1,088,000 14.TheChamp 434,000 1,124,000 15. Alice in Wonderland 432,000 703,000 16.AutumnSonata 409,000 942,000 16. Convoy 407,000 882,000 17. Straw Dogs 446,000 702,000 18. Capricorn One 383,000 816,000 19. Fist 386,000 694,000 20. The Omen, Part II .' 358,000 688,000 21. Interiors 340,000 710,000 22. Catand Mouse 370,000 649,000 23. Xica da Silva 329,000 624,000 24. Formula 1 (Italo pic) 336,000 533,000 25. Revenge of the Pink Panther 423,000 504,769

Censorial Norms, As From 1968 Buenos Aires.

As per regulations published March 25,1968 and which are still in effect in matters of censorship in Argentina the following scenes or films con­doning the following subjects are prohibited:

(1.) Justification of adultery or, in general, anything attacking matri­mony and the family.

(2.) Justification of abortion, prostitution and sexual perversions. • (3.) Presentation of lascivious scenes of those in violation or morality

and good customs. (4.) Apologies for crimes. (5.) Those that deny the duty of defending the country and the right of its

authorities to exact it. (6.) Those that undermine national security, affect relations with

friendly nations or harm the interests of the basic institutions of the State. In the following article, it says: "Series filmed for television can be

shown by channels without prior classification by the Ente (censors), but this organization may intervene in order to apply.the regulations of the present law if circumstances so require."

•Tough' (Also 'Inconsistent') * | Sums Up Censorship Style!

Buenos Aires. Film censorship in Argentina is

the toughest in Latin America. Even the advent of color television this year is not expected to have so adverse an effect on film atten­dance as the constant cutting and prohibition of foreign films. Censor­ship is generally blamed for crip­pling Argentina's own national production industry.

If the number of local films has been on the rise, "quality" has not kept apace with "quantity." Fear becomes an integral part of the entrepreneur's mentality and se­verely conditions all business trans­actions.

To complicate matters even further, and as with censor boards everywhere, there is a measure of inconsistency in the rulings. Some films are passed With certain scenes left in which in analogous films would be altogether nixed. The outstanding example of this recently was West Germany's "The Tin Drum" where certain "daring" sequences were countenanced. Local distrib, availing himself of this relaxation of censorial strict­ness, launched pic in a big way in Buenos Aires and succeeded in making it one of the top-grossing films of the season.

Censorship also applies in a more insidious way to Argentinian ac­tors who have gone into exile and are working abroad. Reportedly there will probably be some re­laxation in this respect over the coming months, but many thesps are still strictly tabu and films they appear in cannot be shown. This has been most notably so with certain films produced by EHas Querejeta in Spain. "

Given the iron-tight regulations, audiences too tend to be suspicious of what they are going to see on screen, and are wont to opt for straight adventure fare rather than sit through eviscerated versions of originally outspoken fare. More often, they simply don't bother go­ing out at all since similar product can be seen at home on the tube.

Not surprisingly, most industry-ites Variety spoke to were loath to be publicly identified in their anti-censorship comments, but the feel­ings they expressed are shared by all sectors of the industry.

A Crucial Loss One manager of a leading Yank

distribbery commented: "In the U.S. and Europe pix are being made that are ever more risque. They do very well elsewhere, but can't be played in Argentina. This is a very important loss for us. There is no indication that censors will be more benign this year."

Among the most noteworthy pix forbidden of late were' 'Hard Core,'' "Stay the Way You Are," "Coming Home" and "Manhattan." Censors found suggestions of lesbianism objectionable in the Woody Allen pic and suggested cuts, which Allen didn't accede to. At one point there was talk of changing the subti­tles, but nothing has come of that. "Manhattan" (already released in Chile), was to have opened for Christmas in Buenos Aires, and wasn't okayed till mid-February. ("Coming Home," by the way, has also been released in Chile).

Drag Comedy Nixed Not entirely nixed, but released

with significant cuts due to songs prohibited by national law was "Hair." Forbidden altogether was the French comedy-in-drag, "La CageAuxFolles."

Also cut was "The Betsy," parts of which supposedly dealt with in­cest, though the British video series "I, Claudius" unspooled on tele­vision without any trouble. Spot commercials on video for "over 18" pix, by the way, cannot be shown before 10 p.m.

One distrib dealing with Spanish and Italo product last year had 10 pix nixed by the censors. These were "Mussolini, Ultimo Acto," "Tosca," "Death Weekend," "Mad Dog," "Los Claros Motivos del Deseo," "La Corea," "La Revolu-cion Matrimonial," "Escopeta Na-cional." Others he didn't even bother submitting.

Inconsistent Re Tube "It is notorious," he said, "that

you can see films on tv banned for theatrical release. You can see vio­lence, drugs, horror pix on tv that are forbidden in our theatres. Abor­tion and adultery surface in video but aren't allowed in theatrical."

Said another distrib: "When the censors are in doubt they forbid a film." Another distrib com­mented : "Censorship is worse than ever before. It has never been more indifferent and bureaucratic. There's a complete lack of interest in the problems of the film in­dustry. If it were up to the censors they would abolish cinema altogether. For them it's a medium of corruption and subversion. When Miguel Tato was chief censor at least you had the feeling he knew something about films."

Many distribs and exhibs none­theless felt that the present board of censors was at least more "ap­proachable" and that they let you argue your case. At year's end everyone in the industry was close­ly watching a legal suit brought to the courts by producer-distrib Raf-

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