Agenda item

At the start of the meeting, the Democratic Services Officer confirmed the Applicant would not be attending the meeting.

Introduction by Licensing / Regulatory Services Officer

Claire Freeman, Regulatory Services team Manager introduced the application for a film classification.

It was noted the reason for the classification application was because the film was intended to be released without a certificate from the British Board of Film Classification and therefore needed a classification and permission from the Licensing Authority to be shown in the Odeon, Uxbridge.

Officers confirmed the film - 'Fear Itself' had been released exclusively on BBC iPlayer in October 2015 and was available to view until October 2016.

The Committee were provided with an overview of the films' content based on the description provided by the applicant. Officers confirmed they had viewed the film privately and concurred with this description.

Officers explained how the scoring matrix should be applied during the film viewing.

Discussion

The Chairman of the Sub-Committee led the general discussion into the application.  Councillors were concerned that the Applicant's paperwork did not provide them with all the relevant information required. 

Specifically, the Committee noted that Hillingdon's Film Authorisation Procedures contained in Appendix 3 , 4.2, bullet point 3  requested "Any existing classification issued by an existing classification body, whether in the UK or abroad" to be provided in writing to the Licensing Service at least 28 days prior to the hearing. Officers confirmed that if this information had been provided, the Committee could have applied clause 4.10 of Hillingdon's Film Authorisation Procedures and authorised the film without viewing it.

The Committee requested Officers to provide the information under 4.2 bullet point 3, during the course of the meeting to inform its deliberations.

Committee Deliberation

All parties were asked to leave the room while the Sub-Committee considered its decision.

During deliberations, the Sub-Committee viewed the film and applied the scoring matrix contained in Appendix 2 of the agenda pack. After the film had been viewed, but before a decision was made, Officers confirmed that two other Authorities had given the film an 18 rating and another had determined it to be a 15 rating.

The Decision

The Sub-Committee, having viewed the film, determined that the film contained sufficient footage of scenes of blood and gore, strong horror and scenes of sexual violence to require a classification of "18".

The Legal officer advised that as this classification was age restrictive, no persons under the age of 18 should be admitted to the viewing. Reiterating the guidance in Hillingdon's Film Authorisation Procedure, Officers explained that rating was subject to the premises licence holder (or club premises certificate holder) displaying in a conspicuous position a notice clearly stating that the Licensing Authority had authorised the film for viewing by persons ages 18 years or older. Suggested wording for such a notice was contained at paragraph 4.8 of the London Borough of Hillingdon's Film Authorisation Procedure.

Furthermore, it was recommended that the premises licence holder (or club premises certificate holder) adopted a suitable management policy and procedure to monitor and enforced the recommendation on age restriction. The exhibition of film was additionally subject to the mandatory conditions listed at 5.1 of the above mentioned procedures document.