Film Censorship
Sweden had a film censorship board (Statens biografbyrå), founded in 1911. Statens biografbyrå was closed down in 2011. A new board, Statens medieråd, have taken over the responsibility of determining the age limits for film. The censorship of film has been removed.
Statens biografbyrå oversaw censorship laws that stated that films "shall not include any material that is offensive to public decency or disrespectful to the authorities or private individuals, nor pictures depicting the commission of murders, robberies or other serious crimes, and exhibitions that are open to children shall not include pictures depicting events or situations that are liable to arouse emotions of terror or horror in the audience or for other reasons be considered unsuitable for children to look at." Since the abolition of Statens Biografbyrå, film censorship in Sweden has officially been removed.
The new board, Statens medieråd, determines age limits for films. The age limits are 7, 11 or 15 years old. Generally movies where people are killed or assaulted have 15 as the age limit, and movies with acts of sex (even if not shown in detail) have 11 as the age limit. This differs significantly from the practice in the United States of rating films with sex more harshly than films with violence.
All the documents about the examination of films, including cut scenes, are available to the public. Some movies have been banned entirely and are not available for viewing. The list of the films banned includes Nosferatu (banned for excessive horror), Mad Max and Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation. The last mainstream film to be cut was the 1995 film Casino.
Read more about this topic: Censorship In Sweden
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