From Censored to Restored

This unique film season at the BFI Southbank explores censorship across the 20th century, and around the world, through a selection of films that were banned upon release in their countries of production and that have recently been restored.

What was seen elsewhere as an instant classic proved controversial on home soil. The films featured in this season were either banned outright or boycotted by the media for reasons varying from control of the masses and fear of civil unrest, to political dissent, violence and sex.

Censors (and authorities) were responsible for halting filmmakers’ careers for long periods, but these films resurfaced, in some cases decades after being shelved or considered destroyed. They were painstakingly restored by international archives and re-evaluated, proving that censorship does not – and cannot – suppress art.

The season presents a fascinating collection of films from across the world, including powerful films made in the 1970s and 1980s in Syria, Poland, Iran and the USSR, and iconic films from Spain, Italy and France such as the stirring 1928 silent masterpiece (screened with live piano accompaniment) The Passion of Joan of Arc.