Film board wants accredited studios held for censorship infringements

The National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), has recommended that accredited exhibition studios and establishments be held responsible for censorship infringements.

The Board’s position is contained in a communiqué at the end of its international conference on film censorship, held in Jos.

The conference’s theme was “Leveraging on Institutional Collaboration/Models For Improved Standards and Social Inclusion in an Open Society”.

The communique was signed by Miss Lydia Digwo, the Secretary of the Board, and issued to newsmen on Monday in Jos.

It promised that NFVCB would promote quality scripts and production, and enjoined film makers to organise sessions to ensure that prescribed criteria were strictly complied with.

“Censorship and classification criteria should be based on home grown model; it should also be in tandem with global trends.

“Adequate attention should be paid to the fundamentals of production and self regulation to achieve the primary goal of censorship in the public interest.

“All processes should be followed and only endorsed contents, that meet the approved and accepted norms, should be allowed for viewing in the country.

“The core values, norms and belief system of the society should particularly be promoted through movie censorship and classification,” the communiqué said.

While noting the magnitude and high impact of film and video works on society, it called for adequate funding of the board to improve training and boost capacity to discharge duties.

The conference recommended a guided and reliable means for distributing films so that film makers and regulators would not be shortchanged.