Come See a Banned Film!!!

Censored Films To Be Screened April 6

On April 6, 2023 at 7 p.m. in the Armer Theater, Manzanita Hall, CSUN, two banned films will be screened: If You Love This Planet (1982) and A Beautiful Sin (2022).

If You Love This Planet is the last film officially banned from screening in the U.S. by the U.S. government. These films are being presented by the Department of Journalism and Department of Cinema and Television Arts (CTVA).

At the screening, CSUN students and faculty will offer a panel discussion on current issues in cinema censorship, including the on-screen display of Instagram memes created by CSUN students in the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication.

If You Love This Planet

If You Love This Planet is a documentary directed by Terre Nash. It presents a lecture by Australian physician Dr. Helen Caldicott about nuclear weapons. The U.S. Justice Dept. temporarily banned If You Love This Planet from being exhibited in theaters, in 1982, under the claim it was “foreign political propaganda.”

Censorship of If You Love This Planet led to its increased popularity. Director Nash won an Oscar for Best Short Documentary for the film. In her acceptance speech, Nash thanked the U.S. government for promoting her film.

A Beautiful Sin

A Beautiful Sin, directed by Ahmad Jack Almazeedi, tells the story of a young couple in love in Kuwait City. The couple get engaged, then one comes out as transgender. The question asked by the film is: How will their love survive as they face conflicting religious beliefs and social norms in a region of the world that does not accept the LGBTQ+ relationships?

A Beautiful Sin cannot be shown in Kuwait, due to film censorship in the country. It is a CTVA student film that screened in September 2022 at the Senior Film Showcase, held at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills.

The film screening at CSUN of these two banned films is part of a semester-long project called Cinema Censorship, Then and Now, being funded by the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication as an interdisciplinary pilot program.

Profs. Elizabeth Blakey (Journalism) and Nate Thomas (CTVA) are heading the pilot program, which addresses issues of film bans and other restrictions on freedom of expression in the history of cinema.