‘Cry Freedom’ Release Hits New Snag in South Africa

The South African minister of home affairs ordered government censors Monday to reconsider their approval of “Cry Freedom,” Richard Attenborough’s film about black activist Steve Biko, which was set to open Friday in 36 theaters nationwide.

Stoffel Botha’s tersely worded directive, published in the Government Gazette in Pretoria, came as United International Pictures (UIP), which is distributing the film in South Africa, was preparing to go ahead with the once-delayed premiere.

“Cry Freedom” had been cleared in November by the official censors, the Publications Appeals Board, for showing without cuts or restrictions to audiences of all ages.

Botha’s action Monday will put pressure on the board to change its ruling. The censors could stand by their earlier decision, ban the film altogether or recommend cuts or audience age restrictions. In some cases in the past, movies have been restricted to showing only by small groups, such as film societies.

The Publications Board has become more liberal about sex and violence in films in recent years, although strict age restrictions are often imposed. But political topics remain sensitive, and each week dozens of items are banned, from slogan-bearing T-shirts to films and books.

“Cry Freedom” was to be released in at least half a dozen theaters in black townships, and this is fairly unusual for a first-run movie here. It also was scheduled for showing in some of the country’s most affluent white suburbs. About 90% of the theaters in South Africa, and all those scheduled to show “Cry Freedom,” are open to all races.

UIP had planned an April 8 opening for “Cry Freedom” but postponed it while it sought assurances from government officials that its theaters would not be prosecuted for showing the film.

Despite the censors’ original ruling, several government officials pointed out that distributors of the film could be prosecuted under the Internal Security Act, which prohibits publication or broadcast of anything said by a “banned” person.

Attenborough’s film portrays the friendship between Steve Biko, leader of the Black Consciousness movement, who died of head injuries while in police custody in 1977, and white newspaper editor Donald Woods, who fled South Africa with the nearly completed manuscript of a book on Biko. Biko was a banned person at the time of his death. Woods remains banned, meaning that his writings or statements may not be legally quoted here.

Although top-level officials in the white minority-led government screened the movie in March, none issued any statement about the film’s release.

UIP, a foreign movie distribution company co-owned by Universal Pictures, MGM/UA Communications Co. and Gulf & Western’s Paramount Pictures, said after a June meeting in London that it planned to release “Cry Freedom” on July 29.

Last fall, UIP and Universal Pictures, the American distributor of “Cry Freedom,” publicly challenged the South Africans to release the film uncensored in all communities and said that if the government agreed, all proceeds would be donated to UNICEF’s children’s fund.

Pretoria did not respond directly to the challenge, but shortly afterward the censors approved the film for public exhibition.

The release ran into difficulties when UIP attempted to use quotes from Biko and Woods in South African newspapers; publication of the quotes would have violated the Internal Security Act.

Peter Dignan, local director of United International, said in a recent interview that his company had received no assurances from the government, “but our top management believed this would be the appropriate time to release the film.”

Producers of the film, surprised that the government censors originally approved its release, had vowed earlier this year to run advertisements in local newspapers, quoting Biko and Woods. But so far no advertisements for the film have appeared here.

In Los Angeles, Universal Pictures declined to discuss the South African government’s move, and UIP officials could not be reached for comment.