About classified films
The Office of Film and Literature Classification classifies films which may require restriction or be objectionable (banned).
Watch former Chief Censor Bill Hastings explain the restricted classifications the office can assign (2:25)
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Read a transcript of this video
There's three categories. The harshest thing you could do with this film is to classify it as objectionable. If you classify it as objectionable, that means that you have determined that it's likely to injure society if anyone sees it, even adults. That's the harshest thing you can do to this film, it means you've banned it. And you can see that there's no label there for this, because you've banned it so there's nothing to stick the label on to. That's the harshest thing you could do.
If you decide that, it also means you're invoking the offence provisions of the Act which make it an offence to possess an objectionable publication or to show it to anyone, or to deal with it in some way. And there's hefty fines, and even terms of imprisonment. So that's why I say you've got the power, but with awesome power comes awesome responsibility. Your say today will help determine this.
The next category are the restricteds. You can restrict according to age, but you can also restrict according to specified persons or classes of persons and for particular purposes. The age – the highest you can go is 18, and what we usually use are the familiar ones – 18, 16 and 13. Now and then we use 15, but usually 18, 16 and 13. But that doesn't mean you can't use other things – you could make it R3 if you wanted to. But 18 is the highest you can go.
You can also restrict, as I said, to classes of persons and for particular purposes. We sometimes get into the Office things like psychiatric treatment manuals, which have really awful sexual violent fantasises or paedophilic fantasises which would normally get banned – but these things are imported by psychiatrists or psychologists for treating sex offenders in prisons. So what we'll do is we'll make them R18. We'll then restrict them to registered psychologists – which is a class of persons, and then we'll also restrict for a particular purpose – for the purpose of treating sex offenders in prison for example. So the idea is that you can tailor a classification to directly remedy the injury that you have identified.
- Former Chief Censor Bill Hastings
The Classification Office can classify unrestricted films
The Classification Office can also classify any rated (unrestricted film) that is submitted to it. This has happened occasionally where a distributor has been unhappy with a rating given by the Labelling Body (which was the case with Space Chimps) or where the Chief Censor has been concerned about the rating of a film (eg, in the cases of Scooby-Doo, Happy Feet and Land of the Lost). In these cases, the Chief Censor has called the film in after complaints from the public.
Case studies illustrate the classification process
Case studies available on this site have full written decisions and other documents involved with the classification of selected films, games and other publications.
See how the classification process works in detail in the Case Studies
Different people and organisations submit films for classification
Most films submitted to the Classification Office are submitted by the Film and Video Labelling Body on behalf of distributors. Occasionally, films are submitted by members of the public. There are different costs for classification depending on whether or not the applicant has a commercial interest in the film.
A smaller number of films are submitted by Customs, NZ Police or the Censorship Compliance Unit of the Department of Internal Affairs, or through court cases. The films are often moving image files taken from personal computers, and contain objectionable content. Enforcement agencies do not pay for classification.
How is a film classified?
When a film is submitted for classification it is viewed by a Classification Officer (a CO). In the case of games, an expert game player plays the game while a CO watches and takes notes.
Films must be watched from start to finish. This includes watching trailers and extra features. Even if a film is clearly objectionable within the first few minutes (for example a film promoting torture), it must still be watched through to the end.
The CO makes notes on the film as they watch it and then fills out a consideration sheet which breaks down how the material in the film (including the soundtrack) relates to the criteria in section 3 of the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993.
The CO recommends a classification and this is discussed with senior COs before a final decision is made.
In some cases, excisions (cuts) may be required before a film can be given a classification. For example, in order for a film to receive an R18 classification, a particular scene may need to be removed from it. In these cases, the distributor is offered the option of making the cut. If the distributor agrees, the film is classified as R18. If they refuse, the film is classified as objectionable (banned).
The Classification Office must consider the Bill of Rights
The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 requires that the Classification Office give the lowest possible restriction to a publication. If the Office cannot decide between two classifications (eg, between R16 and R18), the principle of section 14 of the Bill of Rights Act means it must decide on the lighter of the two classifications.
14 Freedom of expression
Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, including the freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and opinions of any kind in any form.
- NZ Bill of Rights Act 1990
