Status: REJECTED Year: 1989 |
Visions of Ecstasy
In 1989 this short film was submitted to the BBFC. It contained a fantasy scene in which the sexualised figure of St Teresa of Avila caresses the body of Christ on the cross. The BBFC , having taken professional legal advice, judged the film to be potentially liable to prosecution under the common law offence of blasphemous libel. Because cuts would have removed about half the work (which was only 19 minutes long) the only option was to refuse it a certificate. There was much debate in the press about whether or not the film was a serious experimental work and about whether the offence of blasphemy had any place in a modern society. Nigel Wingrove, the film's director and distributor, appealed against the Board's rejection to the independent Video Appeals Committee. This Committee was established by the Video Recordings Act in 1984 to hear appeals from distributors who felt that the Board's decisions on their works were too restrictive. After hearing evidence from both sides, including a defence of the film by film maker Derek Jarman, the Committee upheld the BBFC's original decision, being satisfied that a reasonable jury was likely to convict. Indeed, only 10 years previously, Gay News had been successfully prosecuted for blasphemy after publishing a poem by James Kirkup describing a Roman soldier's fantasies about Christ. The distributor finally took his case to the European Court of Human Rights in 1996. Although the Court did not consider whether or not the video itself was blasphemous (since that was a matter that could only be decided under UK law) it was asked to consider whether the existence of a law of blaphemy was consistent with the right of Freedom of Expression, guaranteed by the European Convention of Human Rights. In their conclusion they stated that:- “Freedom of expression constitutes one of the essential foundations of a democratic society. As paragraph 2 of Article 10 expressly recognises, however, the exercise of that freedom carries with it duties and responsibilities. Amongst them, in the context of religious beliefs, may legitimately be included a duty to avoid as far as possible an expression that is, in regard to objects of veneration, gratuitously offensive to others and profanatory”. The BBFC's decision to reject the film was therefore upheld and Visions of Ecstasy remains the only film to be banned in the UK on grounds of blasphemy. Find out more: Blasphemy Laws
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