Travis Mathews, the documentarian whose short film I Want Your Love has been met with near universal acclaim on the worldwide queer film festival circuit, was denied permission to show his film in Australia, reports The Sidney Morning Herald. Citing inconsistencies with film festival guidelines, Lesley O’Brien, the director of the classification board (Australia’s equivalent of the Motion Picture Association of America), stated unequivocally that “the film was not granted an exemption.”
The short film, which grew out of series of narratives that director Mathews created in San Francisco about gay men and their bedrooms, and which continued to unfold with additional interviews in Berlin and London, eventually formed the basis for I Want You Love.
The film recreates the last thirty-six hours of a man’s life before departing for good from San Francisco. After a party thrown on his behalf, he ends up in his bedroom in what is arguably a very explicit lovemaking session with another man.
Mathews, who issued a director’s statement, explained, “”With my films I have always sought to capture honest and intimate depictions of modern gay life with everyday men. This involved a throughline of intimacy and that meant not shying away from sex as a tool to show character development, interpersonal issues, intimacy, playfulness and something overall closer to the reality I’m familiar with.”
Australians, however, see it much differently and refused to grant the film an exception for three queer film festivals, one in Brisbane, one in Sidney and one in Melbourne. James Franco, who worked with Travis on Interior. Leather Bar., a re-engagement with many of the expurgated scenes from William Friedkin’s 1980 film Cruising, stepped into the fray calling the decision “embarrassing” and released a video in defense of the film. “[Travis is] using sex in a very sophisticated way. Sex is such a big part of our lives and if it isn’t a part of your life, that’s a conscious choice to keep it out. It’s how we create children. It’s how we connect. To keep it from films that want to explore human behavior is very shortsighted and I think very hypocritical.”
It’s also censorial, chafed Jain Moralee, director of Sydney’s Mardi Gras Film Festival. ”I wonder if we’re talking about double standards here,” Ms Moralee was quoted as saying in the Sidney Morning Herald piece. ”They are choosing not to engage with the context in which the film was to be screened and one has to ask if it would be the same if it were heterosexual sex that was being shown.”
And except for the Mardi Gras Film Festival, I Want Your Love has been screened at dozens of film festivals throughout the world without incident.
I Want Your Love will be released on DVD sometime in 2013.
