‘Damned in the USA’ Set to Screen at L.A. Fest : Films: The lawsuit-plagued British documentary on U.S. censorship battles is the opening night entry of the nationally touring Human Rights Watch Festival.

Amid the furor of lawsuits, a British documentary on U.S. censorship battles will be shown in Los Angeles next week as the opening night entry of the nationally touring Human Rights Watch Festival.

The screening of “Damned in the USA” at the Directors Guild Theatre on Wednesday, in association with the UCLA Film and Television Archive and American Cinematheque, is the latest episode in a dispute that the filmmakers see as a case of censoring a documentary about the subject of censorship.

After a September, 1991, screening at the Margaret Mead Film Festival at the Museum of Natural History in New York, the Rev. Donald Wildmon, president of the Tupelo, Miss.-based American Family Assn. and an interviewee in the film, launched a suit against British filmmaker Paul Yule and his producers, including the British television network Channel 4. Wildmon charged that they had violated a contract with him not to show the film outside the United Kingdom, and his suit temporarily blocked further public screenings in the United States.

As a key commentator in “Damned in the USA,” Wildmon describes the anti-pornography work of his group, including a campaign against the National Endowment for the Arts for funding works by such artists as Andres Serrano and Robert Mapplethorpe. The film records, uncensored, the controversial works, ranging from Serrano’s “Piss Christ” (depicting the crucified Christ figure submerged in urine) to sexually explicit photos from Mapplethorpe’s photo series “The Perfect Moment.” It also includes a clip from Deke Weaver’s short film “Don’t Be a Dick,” which shows a close-up shot of the tip of a penis on which is drawn a caricature of Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), a congressional leader against NEA funding of controversial artworks.

Wildmon considers that for “his interview to be included alongside such blasphemous and pornographic imagery would be damaging to his reputation,” said American Family Assn. attorney Benjamin W. Bull.

The filmmakers lost a bid in U.S. District Court in New York on May 7 to sue Wildmon for blocking public showings of the film--with all litigation, including a countersuit against Wildmon, moving back to Tupelo, where the original suit was filed. But Bull also made verbal assurances that exhibitors such as Human Rights Watch would not be sued by Wildmon and could screen the film as long as they did not also market it to other exhibitors.

Russell Smith, an attorney representing the film, termed this “a minor victory,” but added that Wildmon’s suit makes the filmmakers liable for potential fines of $500,000 for each public screening of the film, as well as $8 million in punitive damages.

“Damned in the USA” subsequently appeared on May 13 and 17 at the first stop in the Human Rights Watch Festival tour, in New York. (After Los Angeles, the tour is scheduled to stop in Berkeley, Minneapolis and Boston.)

The dispute between Wildmon and the filmmakers was complicated further last Tuesday when Wildmon suffered a heart attack in Jackson, Miss. He is currently in intensive care. His day-to-day status, and possible lengthy recovery, could thwart the filmmakers’ desire for a rapid court decision that they hope would prevent any further delays in the film’s release.

Despite Bull’s assurances that Human Rights Watch, an international group that monitors human rights abuses, would not be sued for screening the film, the group is taking some precautions. A statement will be read by a Human Rights Watch representative before the screening, declaring that Wildmon does not endorse the film and does not have any association with controversial artworks shown in the film.

A note in the festival calendar states that the film is “subject to cancellation” because, said UCLA archive programming head Jeff Gilmore, the film has been tied up in court.

Gilmore said that, as far as he knew, the May 7 understanding between Wildmon and the courts applied only to the Human Rights Watch screenings in New York. Smith, however, said that all Human Rights Watch screenings may proceed, and “none of this should have any effect on UCLA” or American Cinematheque.

“We’re trying to work things out,” Gilmore added, “and we intend to show the film.”

After opening night, the festival moves to UCLA’s Melnitz Theatre and will include such highlights as the Los Angeles premieres of Marcel Ophuls’ latest film, “November Days,” Bulgaria’s “The Hunter’s Shadow,” and Egypt’s “Naji El-Ali.”