The controversy over the R rating given to The Bully Project, a documentary about bullying in the US, continues to grow.
The rating was handed down by the Motion Picture Association of America which expressed concern over “some laguage” in the film.
More than 182,000 people have now signed a petition started by Michigan teenager Katy Butler in protest against the classification.
The film’s distributor, the Weinstein Company, recently lost its appeal of the rating.
“I have been through many of these appeals, but this one vote loss is a huge blow to me personally,” said Harvey Weinstein in a news release.
“With school-age children of my own, I know this is a crucial issue, and school districts across the US have responded in kind. The Cincinnati school district signed on to bus 40,000 of their students to the movie – but because the appeals board retained the R rating, the school district will have to cancel those plans.”
Below is a video interview by Peter Knegt with Lee Hirsch and Cynthia Lowen, the film’s director and producer, respectively.
The Bully Project is screening at the Bell Lightbox on March 2 as part of TIFF’s Human Rights Watch 2012 program. It will run in select theatres across Canada starting on April 6. For more on The Bully Project, click here. For more on the Human Rights Watch 2012 program, click here.
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