MOVIES - March 30, 1989

The U.S. Information Agency has decided not to appeal a pivotal court ruling that found the agency violated constitutional guarantees of free speech by denying export certificates to a group of documentary films that espoused liberal views opposed by the Reagan administration. The much-publicized 1986 case pitted seven film makers, whose on-screen topics range from Nicaragua under the Sandinistas to the perils of nuclear energy, against the USIA and its former director, Charles Z. Wick. The agency refused to certify the films for export, and the film makers charged that the agency was attempting to censor the films’ contents. The agency’s criteria for determining suitability for export certification were challenged in Los Angeles federal court and found unconstitutional. That ruling was appealed and upheld in higher courts. The agency this week chose not to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. (A related legal matter over a second set of USIA guidelines is still pending, however.)