Photo by Bryan Oller
This spring, I brought to life a “Silenced Film Series” featuring and honoring films and filmmakers who have been “silenced” by government censorship, by the Hollywood establishment, or by the marginalization of their narratives in popular culture. It is a project that has, at least conceptually, been in the works for almost 10 years.
Many people have “aha” moments — moments that remain lodged in consciences, that inform passions or long-term interests. Mine was at a documentary about the Motion Picture Association of America called “This Film is Not Yet Rated.” I was 12 and watching next to my father.
“This Film is Not Yet Rated” (which is, itself, rated NC-17) is about the biases within the Hollywood rating system. It’s about inequality in the film world, particularly the MPAA’s tendencies to allocate “NC-17” ratings to films with homosexual sex and “R” ratings to heterosexual sex, and their inclinations to treat female nudity more harshly than male nudity. The film’s points are communicated loudly and clearly — through illustrative explicit film clips and interviews.
My father’s decision to take me to that screening was by some accounts foolish — the content of that film is wildly inappropriate for an impressionable 12-year-old —but he took me because he knew how much I loved movies. And his choice turned out to be a good one. I left the theater with a new understanding of the film industry that has since influenced my perspective on cinema.
I’ve been a “movie person” for as long as I can remember. I love the way that they share experiences through words, sounds, and moving images. However, there’s a common assumption that film and film reception is this incredibly democratic, free, and expressive medium, and the reality is that it isn’t — at least it isn’t always.
Most mainstream film is formulaically produced, and heavily controlled and filtered — not just by the MPAA, but also by film studios, directors, producers, academics, and critics. The medium of film lives in tension — wavering between commercialism and art.
My four-part “Silenced Film Series,” held at CC in February and March, carries on the tradition of “This Film is Not Yet Rated” by exposing unspoken disparities in the film industry. My intention was to incite critical awareness of the film industry and its politics among CC students and the larger Colorado Springs community.
The series included a question and answer session with Oscar-nominated director Tia Lessin and a screening of her most recent film “Citizen Koch,” a documentary that was signed for national broadcast but was controversially dropped due to a conflict of interest. Lectures highlighted censorship in American film and barriers affecting women in entertainment. At the final program, Holly Carter ’85, executive director of BYkids, participated in a discussion after a screening of short films produced by nonprofits WITNESS and BYkids.
The original idea for this project came through my participation in CC’s Community Engaged Leadership program, which is funded by the Boettcher Foundation to empower students to enact social justice-oriented projects.
The “Silenced Film Series” is an extension of my interests in film censorship, but also is a manifestation of my liberal arts education at Colorado College. To bring it to life, I partnered with organizations and students including the Film and Media Studies program, the Sociology Department, a club called Films for Justice, an organization called Graphics Research Lab headed by Anna Kay ’15, and the Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Institute.
The series was a huge success and a team effort representing the many disciplines and people that have been so important to my Colorado College experience. I’m incredibly grateful.
Rebecca Celli is a sociology major from New York City.
