Are we going to censorship? Latvian cinemas warn viewers about ‘LGBT theme’ in animated film

Shortly after Armaneva’s post, movie theaters reacted and added the note “Warning: This Disney studio movie touches on LGBT themes” in the description of the movie. Very similar information can be found in the description of the movie in other major theaters in Latvia.

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The plot of the movie tells the story of a family of explorers who travel deep into uncharted and dangerous lands where the most mind-blowing creatures can be found. The official trailer for the movie does not reveal any indication of the LGBT theme it refers to.

Kaspars Zālītis, a human rights activist and LGBT rights advocate, says the placement of this warning on TVNET is alarming. “The word ‘Warning’ in particular implies that the film is portraying something unacceptable. There are movies that are classified by law. However, it has not yet happened that the narration of the film indicates that LGBT themes are mentioned here. It’s like a warning that there will be Jewish or dark-skinned characters in a cartoon. From a discrimination point of view, there is no difference. We will evaluate whether this matter can be taken to the Ombudsman.”

The representative of the cinema “Gaisma” (Valmiera) informed TVNET that the description of the film was published by the distributor Latvia Theater Distribution. The distributor TVNET officials could not be contacted. On the other hand, the representative of Forum Cinemas cinema states that it is the initiative of the cinema to post the warning over the phone. After Armaneva’s statement about the complaints from the parents, it was decided to hang the warning letter. This isn’t ForumCinemas’ first complaint from families about the content of movies – some of them were violent.

Kristīne Matīsa of the National Cinema Center points out that there is no law regarding this in Latvia. Film content is classified according to the Film Classification Rules, where there are no specific indications of LGBT theme. Information regarding film content is at the discretion of the distributor and the cinema.

Council of Ministers Statute No. 587 (Film Classification Rules) specifies the criteria and procedures by which film distributors classify distributed films according to film classification indices. These indices are assigned to all films distributed in Latvian territory. Movies can be aimed at a general audience or people aged 7+, 12+, 16+ or 18+. The purpose of movie classification is to protect children from harmful content in movies and to inform parents or guardians about the harmful content of movies.

Strange World movie is in 7+ category. In accordance with the regulation, restrictions on the distribution of harmful content are applied in the content of the film, problematic issues are handled in a child-friendly and sensitive manner, nudity is allowed without sexual content in the film, and some indirect references to sexual behavior are made. allowed.