Tomato kecchappu otei

Miles Wood diabolik
Sat Oct 5 19:29:02 EDT 2002


From: Stephen Cremin <asianfilmlibrary at mac.com>



> There was a film critic in the UK who was stopped at customs bringing
> some tapes back from a film festival in Europe.  He was kept in custody
> for 24 hours while his house was raided.  All I know is that they were
> experimental films ... which could mean anything.  Let's not name names
> here.

Well, this could be the famous incident from a few years ago when
writer/publisher David Flint got nabbed. I'm certainly not "naming names"
here as it was all over the papers. Flint was I believe bringing back
pprnography from Holland, and had a HUGE collection of it - he written
extensively on it - which was seized while he was held. Or perhaps Stephen
is referring to another similar incident; I'm sure others have occurred.

>  I would strongly suggest that anyone ordering the Terayama tapes
> ask Image Forum to remove the cover from the video before shipping.

I doubt a company would go to such trouble. I think it best to get someone
in Japan to send it for you if you want to go to such lengths, if possible

> I once met someone who ordered a laserdisc of Oshima's AI NO CORRIDA
> from America before it got a UK certificate.  He had the shipper
> include a letter he secured from the British Board of Film
> Classification assuring any customs inspector that it wasn't an obscene
> film.  Unfortunately, customs never opened the package so the letter
> was never put to the test.  Perhaps you can try a similar trick if the
> MPAA are amenable.  ...  Assuming you find a Terayama fan.

I don't think such an appeal would hold any water. The Customs are simply a
law to the themselves. I think they need to make make regular seizures to
justify their positions...and I'll some of them have pretty big video
collections!!!

Miles





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