For nearly the entire history of film production, certain films have been banned by film censorship or review organizations for political or moral reasons or for controversial content, such as racism. Censorship standards vary widely by country, and can vary within an individual country over time due to political or moral change.
Many countries have government-appointed or private commissions to censor and rate productions for film and television exhibition. While it is common for films to be edited to fall into certain rating classifications, this list includes only films that have been explicitly prohibited from public screening. In some countries, films are banned on a wide scale; these are not listed in this table.
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1996–2001 2021–present |
All | During the five-year reign of the Islamic Emirate government in Afghanistan, watching film or television was prohibited. While briefly lifted under the twenty-year rule of the Islamic Republic, the ban was re-instated upon the return of Taliban rule in 2021.[1][2][3] |
| 2008 | The Kite Runner | Banned due to inciting violence.[4] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1980–1990 | Pas vdekjes (After Death) | Banned for ten years under Communist government.[5] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Ben-Hur | Banned from all Arab League states because actress Haya Harareet was Israeli.[6] |
| 2006 | Borat | Banned in every Arab League country except Lebanon.[7] |
| 2023 | Barbie | On August 13, 2023, just three weeks after its release on July 19, the screenings of Barbie were halted in film theaters in Algeria. According to Reuters, the official source was quoted as saying that the film "promotes homosexuality and other Western deviances" and that it "does not comply with Algeria's religious and cultural beliefs." |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1941 | I'll Never Heil Again | Banned during the conservative period of authoritarian governments known as "Infamous Decade" (1930–1943), for lampooning Nazi Germany; Argentina had declared itself neutral during World War Two.[8] |
| 1947 | La mujer más honesta del mundo (The Most Honest Woman of the World) | This comedy film had its screening forbidden in Buenos Aires by the Municipal Censorship Commission due to the conservative public criticising it as "apology for inmorality". As a result, the film could be only screened in an ephemeral and circumstantial way in some points of the interior of the country. |
| 1954 | La Tigra | This film, based on the work of the same name written by Florencio Sánchez about the encounter of a woman known as "the Tigress" and a student of fine arts, was banned by the administrative authority after rating it as "not suitable for ages under 18", alleging "low quality" and covert moralism, excluded the film from the regime of compulsory screening with which the domestic film industry was protected. It was shown edited in Canal 9 Sábados circulares show on 17 March 1962 and debuted commercially in an edited form on 10 September 1964. After 30 years when the film was thought to be lost, a copy from a Santa Fe film archive was found, being screened on Cine Club Núcleo in 1994.[9] |
| 1963 | The Silence | Banned because of "obscenity".[10] |
| 1968 | Ufa con el sexo | Banned under Juan Carlos Ongania's regime during the self-styled "Argentine Revolution" dictatorship (1966–1973), for "violating morality standards". The film was later screened in 2007.[11] |
| 1969–1971 | Los Neuróticos | This film about a psychoanalyst whose only goal is to impress the women who attend his group therapies, which was originally shot in 1969, was banned by the classification board, which was in charge of censoring films. The film underwent several cuts to submit it again in order to receive classification, but in September, the censors maintained their decision. After several cuts and a new ratification in October, the film was finally authorized to be released in November 1971. |
| 1971 | México, la revolución congelada | This documentary was banned by the Argentinian embassador of Mexico, at behest of the President of Mexico Luis Echeverria, who warned that the film was a fierce criticism of a betrayed ideal rather than a praise of the "revolution made institution". |
| 1972 | Valle fértil | This documentary film did not see a commercial debut and was banned in the Valle Fértil Department by the de facto comptroller Luis Martínez, who supposed that it was due to the comment on Revista Clarín magazine titled "Valle Fértil: un pueblo que se extingue" (Valle Fertil: A people in extinction").[12] The film would later be screened in 2014. |
| 1972 | Last Tango in Paris | Banned during the self-styled "Argentine Revolution" dictatorship (1966–1973), for being "pornographic".[10] |
| 1973 | Los traidores (The Traitors) | Banned during the self-styled "Argentine Revolution" dictatorship (1966–1973) for its controversial themes. |
| 1973 | Las Venganzas de Beto Sanchez (Beto Sanchez's Vendettas) | Banned during the self-styled "Argentine Revolution" dictatorship (1966–1973), due to its controversial storyline and themes.[13] Its release was put "on hold" by the dictatorship until the democratically elected constitutional government of Héctor José Cámpora came to power, which allowed its distribution.[13] |
| 1974 | Secuestro y muerte de Mr. Dupont (Kidnapping and Death of Mr. Dupont) | This drama film was not authorized to be screened by the military government and never premiered commercially. |
| 1974 | La Patagonia rebelde (Rebel Patagonia) | Banned under Isabel Perón's government (1974–1976) and Jorge Rafael Videla's regime during Argentina's last-civil military dictatorship (1976–1983). The historical film is about the suppression of a peasants' revolt, known as "Tragic Patagonia".[10] |
| 1976 | Last Days of Mussolini (1974) | Banned under Videla's regime during Argentina's last-civil military dictatorship (1976–1983).[14][15][16] |
| 1976 | The Great Dictator (1940) | Banned under Videla's regime during Argentina's last-civil military dictatorship (1976–1983), for mocking dictatorships.[10] |
| 1978 | Las largas vacaciones del '36 (Long Vacations of 36) | Banned under Videla's regime during Argentina's last-civil military dictatorship (1976–1983), for its sarcastic view of Francoist Spain.[10] |
| 1978 | Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977) | Banned under Videla's regime during Argentina's last-civil military dictatorship (1976–1983), for being "pornographic".[10] |
| 1978 | Pretty Baby | Banned under Videla's regime during Argentina's last-civil military dictatorship (1976–1983), for being "pornographic".[10] |
| 1979 | Coming Home (1978) | Banned under Videla's regime during Argentina's last-civil military dictatorship (1976–1983), for its anti-war message.[10] |
| 1979 | The House on Garibaldi Street | Banned under Videla's regime during Argentina's last-civil military dictatorship (1976–1983), because it depicts the hunt for Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann.[10] |
| 1985 | Je vous salue, Marie (Hail Mary) | Banned due to "blasphemous" and sexual content.[17] |
| 1988 | The Last Temptation of Christ | Banned for being considered as "blasphemy".[18][19][20] |
| 1989 | Kindergarten | Banned for its controversial themes, school shooting, scenes of nudity and unsimulated oral sex. A court order required all copies of the film to be seized and a ban on its exhibition.[21] The film was finally shown in a restored copy in 2010, as part of the Mar del Plata International Film Festival.[22] |
| 2014 | Borrando a papá (Erasing Dad) | This documentary about six fathers estranged from their children after conflictive divorces and hardships to keep their bonds with their children was scheduled to be premiered in 2014, but due to a court measure, it could not be commercially premiered and thus, was uploaded on YouTube.[23][24] |
|
Main article: List of films banned in Australia |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Pink Flamingos | Banned on its initial release until the 1980s due to offensive content.[25] |
| 1975–1992 | Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom | Banned on its initial release,[10] but lifted after seventeen years.[26] |
| 1976–2000 | In the Realm of the Senses | Banned because of obscenity, though a censored version was made available in 1977. Only in 2000 did it finally become available in its complete cut.[27][28] |
| 2003 | Ken Park | Banned and refused classification in 2003 for graphic depictions of teenage sex, incest, and auto-erotic asphyxiation.[29] |
| 2011 | The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) | Temporarily banned for cruel, disturbing, and sexually explicit content. A censored DVD version was later released on February 23, 2012.[30][31][32][33][34][35] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Hostage (Azerbaijani) | Banned because the plot presents Armenians in a positive light.[36][unreliable source?] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Ben-Hur | Banned from all Arab League states because actress Haya Harareet was Israeli.[6] |
| 2006 | Borat | Banned in every Arab League country except Lebanon.[7] |
| 2007 | The Kingdom | Banned because of an inaccurate depiction of a 1996 bombing in Saudi Arabia.[37] |
| 2014 | Noah | Banned due to depiction of prophets.[38] |
| 2021 | Eternals | Banned due to the film's character of Phastos and his husband.[39] |
| 2022 | Lightyear | Banned due to a brief lesbian kiss scene.[40][41] |
| 2023 | Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse | Banned due to it containing frames which feature a transgender flag on which the phrase "Protect Trans Kids" is displayed.[42] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Remembrance of '71 | This documentary by Tanvir Mokammel, on the Bangladesh Liberation war was banned by the Bangladesh Film Censor Board.[43] |
| 1994 | Nodir Naam Modhumoti | This film was banned for being "anti-nationalistic". The director Tanvir Mokammel appealed the ban to the Bangladesh Supreme Court, and then, to the Bangladesh High Court. The film eventually was released in 1996, after the Awami League returned to power.[43] |
| 1995 | Muktir Gaan | This documentary by Tareque Masud and Catherine Masud was objected by the Censor Board out of concern that the songs featured in it were pro-Awami League. Overturned in 1996.[43] |
| 2005 | Teardrops of Karnaphuli | This documentary by Tanvir Mokammel about the effects of Kaptai Dam on the indigenous community in Chittagong Hill Tracts was banned in Bangladesh.[43] |
| 2009 | Nomuna | This satirical film by Enamul Karim Nirjhar had its release refused by the Censor Board for its satire of political figures of Bangladesh.[43] |
| 2011 | Hridoy Bhanga Dheu | This film was banned because the main villain in the movie wore a Mujib Coat, a coat worn by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first President of Bangladesh.[43] |
| 2015 | Mor Thengari | This Chakma language film (which was the first of its kind) was refused certification by the Censor Board as the Bangladesh Army lodged a complaint that the film showed the activities of the army in the Chittagong Hill Tracts which is a sensitive issue,[44] as well for their negative portrayal (along with the police forces') during the Chittagong Hill Tracts conflict.[45] The Ministry of Information in a letter to the Censor board objecting to some scenes of the film, requesting their deletion. The director, Aung Rakhine, withdrew the film rather than cut it,[43] accusing the Censor Board of violating human rights.[46] |
| 2016 | Rana Plaza | This film about a garment factory worker's 17-day fight to survive under the debris of Rana Plaza, a building that collapsed on 24 April 2013, was banned by the Bangladesh Film Censor Board due to a petition from the Bangladesh National Garment Workers League chief Sirajul Islam, as the movie featured scenes considered "frightening" as well the names of security forces, which is considered a breach of the law.[47] |
| 2023 | Faraaz | Faraaz, directed by Hansal Mehta, was released on February 3, 2023, in India and received mixed reviews from critics. This film is based on the 2016 Dhaka attack wherein 29 people were killed, including 20 hostages (17 foreigners and 3 locals), two police officers, five gunmen, and two bakery staff. Ruba Ahmed, the mother of Abinta Kabir, who was killed by militants in the Holey Artisan Attack on July 1, 2016, filed the writ on February 12, 2023. After hearing that writ petition, the High Court bench of Md. Khasruzzaman and Justice Md Iqbal Kabir delivered this order to ban this misleading film. |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1940–1945 | La Kermesse Heroïque (Carnival in Flanders) (1935) | Banned in Nazi-occupied Belgium by Joseph Goebbels because of its pacifist themes. The director, Jacques Feyder, was later hunted down for arrest but managed to hide in Switzerland.[48] |
| 1976–1994 | In the Realm of the Senses | Banned on its initial release because of its graphic sex scenes, being the last film subject to censorship in the country.[49] It was the only European country at that time where the film was banned.[50][51] Since 1994[52] the ban is no longer in effect.[53] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1940–1946 | The Great Dictator | Banned by the Getúlio Vargas dictatorship for being "communist" and "demoralizing the Armed Forces".[54] |
| 1955 | Rio, 100 Degrees F. | Banned for being "communist propaganda" and for presenting negative facts of Brazil.[55] Trying to justify the ban, the Brazilian government alleged that "In Rio de Janeiro, the temperature did not reach over 39.6 °C".[56] |
| 1964–1984 | Twenty Years Later | Banned for being a "manifesto of communism". During production, in 1964, the plot, the photographer and other material were seized and crew members were arrested.[57] The film tells the story of João Pedro Teixeira, a union leader from Paraíba murdered in 1962.[58] Ban overturned in 1984.[59] |
| 1969–2017 | El Justicero | Film banned in 1969 for criticizing the ruling military dictatorship. The original 35mm film was seized by the authorities and later destroyed.[60][61] For these reasons, the film was lost until 2017, when a 16mm copy was restored and re-released in DVD in Brazil.[62][63][64] |
| 1971–1978 | A Clockwork Orange | Banned during the military dictatorship for containing obscenity and "promiscuous content". A censored version of black polka dots covering the breasts and genitals of the actors in the nude scenes became available in the country in 1978.[65][66] |
| 1972–1979 | Last Tango in Paris | Banned during the military dictatorship for containing obscene scenes that were considered by the government as an "attempt against morality and good habits". Ban lifted in 1979.[67][68] |
| 1974–1980 | Emmanuelle | Banned during the military dictatorship for obscenity and graphic sexual scenes. Ban lifted in 1980.[69] |
| 1974–1980 | The Texas Chain Saw Massacre | Banned during the military dictatorship for containing violent scenes that were considered by the government as an "attempt against morality and good habits". Ban lifted in the early 1980s.[70][71] |
| 1975–1980 | Iracema: Uma Transa Amazônica | Banned during the military dictatorship for explicit sexual content.[72] |
| 1976–1980 | In the Realm of the Senses | Banned during the military dictatorship for pornography and graphic sexual scenes. Ban lifted in 1980.[73] |
| 1979 | Di Cavalcanti | Banned due to a court decision obtained by the adopted daughter of the painter Di Cavalcanti, Elizabeth Di Cavalcanti, alleging that her father's image was violated due to the film containing scenes from the painter's funeral and burial.[74][75] However, in 2004, members of the family of the filmmaker Glauber Rocha, made the work available in full version on a server outside Brazil, to circumvent the film's ban.[76] |
| 1982–1983 | Pra Frente, Brasil | Banned at the time of its release for containing political criticism of the military dictatorship.[66] Ban lifted a year later.[77] |
| after 1982 | Love Strange Love | The video of Love Strange Love has its marketing and distribution prohibited in the country. However, the film was released on DVD in the United States in 2005 and can be purchased by any Brazilian on foreign import sites. |
| 1985–1988 | Je vous salue, Marie | Banned during the government of president José Sarney for containing blasphemy against the Christian faith.[78] Ban lifted after the promulgation of the new Brazilian Constitution in 1988.[79] |
| 1988 | The Last Temptation of Christ | Banned in the main capital cities of Brazil, inclusing São Paulo, it was later banned by president José Sarney. |
| 1993 | Beyond Citizen Kane | Banned in Brazil due to a lawsuit filed by Roberto Marinho.[81] |
| 2011–2012 | A Serbian Film | Banned due to it being an "apology for pedophilia" and extreme violence.[82] The film was shown at the VII Fantastic Film Festival in Porto Alegre and was selected for the Fantastic Film Festival in Rio de Janeiro.[83][84] However, it was removed from the event's schedule by order of Caixa, the festival's sponsor. A new screening of the film was scheduled by the organizers of the event outside the festival,[85] but the copy of the film was seized by a court order, thanks to a lawsuit filed by the regional office of the Democrats party.[86] Ban lifted in July 2012.[87] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1967–1990 | Privarzaniyat balon (The Tied Up Balloon) | Banned during the Communist era for criticizing the communist leaders during World War II.[88][89][90] After Bulgaria became a democratic nation in 1990, the ban was lifted.[88][90] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | The Wolf of Wall Street | Banned for putting Cambodia in a negative light, as it showed Ta Prohm temple as the base of the film's villains.[91] |
| 2014 | Who Killed Chea Vichea? | Banned for investigating the mysterious 2004 assassination of Chea Vichea, one of Cambodia's most influential union leaders who spent years fighting for increased wages and improved working conditions for the nation's 300,000 garment workers.[92] |
| 2015 | Fifty Shades of Grey | Banned for "insane romance, numerous sex sequence, the use of violence during sex" and for being "entirely related to sexual matters that are too extreme for Khmer society".[93][94] |
| 2015 | No Escape | Banned for its "negative portrayal of local culture".[95][96] |
| 2017 | Kingsman: The Golden Circle | Banned for portraying Cambodia as a base for the movie's antagonists.[97] |
| 2021 | Methagu | Banned for request of the Sri Lankan government for reflecting the life of Velupillai Prabhakaran, leader of LTTE[98] |
| 2023 | No More Bets | Banned for "seriously damages Cambodia's image and reputation."[99][100][101] |
|
Main article: List of films banned in Canada |
|
Main article: List of films banned in Chile |
|
Main article: List of banned films in the People's Republic of China |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Child 44 (2015) | Banned since 15 April 2015, when the Russian film distributor Central Partnership announced that the film would be withdrawn from cinemas in Russia, although some media stated that screening of the film was blocked by the Russian Ministry of Culture.[102][103][104] The decision was made following the press screening the day before. The Ministry of Culture and the Central Partnership issued a joint press release stating that the screening of the film before the 70th anniversary of the Victory Day was unacceptable.[105] The Ministry of Culture claimed that it received several questions on the film's contents, primarily concerning "distortion of historical facts, peculiar treatment of events before, during and after the Great Patriotic War and images and characters of Soviet people of that era".[105] Russian minister of culture Vladimir Medinsky welcomed the decision, but stressed that it was made solely by the Central Partnership. However, in his personal statement Medinsky complained that the film depicts Russians as "physically and morally base sub-humans", and compared the depiction of Soviet Union in the film with J. R. R. Tolkien's Mordor, and wished that such films should be screened neither before the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, nor any other time.[106] However, he also stated that the film would be available in Russia on DVD and online.[107]
As a result of the decision the film was also withdrawn from cinemas in Belarus,[108] Ukraine,[109] Kazakhstan,[110] and Kyrgyzstan, while release of the film has been postponed until October in Georgia.[111] Ukrainian film director and producer Alexander Rodnyansky criticised the decision not to release Child 44 as bad for the country's film industry. "Before, films where Soviet and Russian heroes were presented not in the best way have been released in Russia, but nothing similar happened. Now everything to do with history should clearly fit into a kind of framework set by the culture ministry."[112] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Ben-Hur | Banned from all Arab League states because actress Haya Harareet was Israeli.[6] |
| 2006 | Borat | Banned in every Arab League country except Lebanon.[7] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1966 | Red Zone Cuba | Banned due to its negative portrayal of Cubans. |
| 1980 | Cuba Crossing | Banned by the Cuban government. |
| 1984 | Red Dawn | Banned by the Cuban government for negatively portraying Cubans. |
| 1992 | Captain Ron | Banned by the Cuban government. |
| 1992 | A Few Good Men | Banned by the Cuban government. |
| 1995 | GoldenEye | Banned by the Cuban government for portraying Soviets. |
| 1996 | Azúcar Amarga | Banned by the Cuban government. |
| 2008 | Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay | Banned due to its negative setting of Cuba. |
| 2014 | Camp X-Ray | Banned by the Cuban government. |
| 2019 | Cuban Love | Banned due to its negative portrayal of Cubans. |
| 2020 | Without Havana | Banned by the Cuban government. |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1966 | The Hand | Banned by the Czechoslovak Communist government from 1969 to 1989.[113] |
| 1966 | Daisies | Banned under the Communist regime for "depicting the wanton".[114][115] The film's director, Věra Chytilová, was forbidden from working again until 1975.[115][116] |
| 1966–1988 | A Report on the Party and the Guests | Banned from 1966 to 1968 because of its political satire. After a short release during the Prague Spring, it was banned again for the next twenty years. In 1974, director Jan Němec emigrated.[117] |
| 1967 | The Firemen's Ball | Banned by the Czechoslovak Communist government in 1968 for "mocking the working class".[117][118][better source needed] Director Miloš Forman relocated to the United States. |
| 1968 | Deserters and Pilgrims (also known as The Deserters and the Nomads) | Banned by the Czechoslovak Communist government.[117] |
| 1969 | Funeral Ceremonies (Smuteční slavnost) | Banned by the Czechoslovak Communist government.[117] |
| 1969 | The Seventh Day, The Eighth Night (Den sedmý, osmá noc) | Banned by the Czechoslovak Communist government.[117][119] |
| 1969–1989 | Squandered Sunday (Zabitá neděle) | Banned by the Czechoslovak Communist government for twenty years, with its director, Drahomíra Vihanová, being banned from making new films until 1977.[117] |
| 1969–1989 | The Cremator | Banned by the Czechoslovak Communist government from 1969 until 1989 because this black comedy depicts a crematorium director who enjoys burning people and sides with the Nazis during the Holocaust.[120][121][122] |
| 1969–1989 | All My Compatriots (also known as All My Countrymen) | Banned by the Czechoslovak Communist government.[117] Its director, Vojtěch Jasný went into exile. |
| 1969–1989 | Birds, Orphans and Fools | Banned by the Czechoslovak Communist government for depicting three people orphaned by political violence and trying to mentally survive, despite not being free.[117] |
| 1969–1989 | Larks on a String | Banned until the fall of the Communist government in 1989.[123][124] |
| 1970 | Hlídač (Prison Guard) | Banned by the Czechoslovak Communist government.[117] |
| 1970 | Fruit of Paradise | Banned by the Czechoslovak Communist government for its shocking content. Its director, Věra Chytilová, was forbidden from making new films for eight years.[117][125] |
| 1970 | Witchhammer | Banned by the Czechoslovak Communist government.[117] |
| 1970–1989 | Ucho (The Ear) | Banned by the Czechoslovak Communist government until 1989, because the story depicts a couple who think they are under government surveillance.[117] |
| 1971 | Nahota (Naked) | Banned by the Czechoslovak Communist government.[117] |
| 1972 | Case for a Rookie Hangman | Banned by the Czechoslovak Communist government for its satirical depiction of Czech society, which meant the end of the director Pavel Juráček's career.[117][126] |
| 1972 | Leonardo's Diary | Banned by the Communist government for depicting life in Czechoslovakia in a critical light. Its director, Jan Švankmajer, was banned from working for five years.[127] |
| 1975 | The Apple Game | Banned by the Czechoslovak Communist government. The director, Věra Chytilová, personally asked for more information at the censor board and heard that the Soviet embassy felt the subject matter was "too heavy-duty".[117] |
| 1977–1989 | Castle of Otranto | Banned by the Czechoslovak Communist government after its director, Jan Švankmajer, refused to change anything about the film. Government censors objected to its mockumentary tone, which could undermine peoples' faith in the TV news. Švankmajer himself was banned from making films for eight years.[128] |
| 1982 | Dimensions of Dialogue | Banned because the Communist government censors didn't like its criticism of consumerism. The ban was more than likely also a result of its director, Jan Švankmajer, having been banned twice before in the past.[127] |
| 1983–1989 | Straka v hrsti (A Magpie in the Hand) | Banned by the Communist government because the film was based on a script by Antonín Přidal, an author who was banned by the government, and because it featured the subversive rock band Pražský výběr.[122] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | L'Homme Qui Repare Les Femmes (The Man Who Mends Women) | Banned without a reason given. The documentary is about Congolese gynaecologist Denis Mukwege, whose hospital treats rape victims.[129] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1930 | The Skeleton Dance | Banned initially in 1930 because the censors deemed the film "too macabre" for children.[130] Today the ban is no longer in effect. |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Ben-Hur | Banned from all Arab League states because actress Haya Harareet was Israeli.[6] |
| 2006 | Borat | Banned in every Arab League country except Lebanon.[7] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Ben-Hur | Banned from all Arab League states because actress Haya Harareet was Israeli.[6] |
| 1960 | Exodus | Banned due to actor Paul Newman's "material support for Zionism and Israel".[6] |
| 1968 | Funny Girl | Banned because the Egyptian Muslim lead (Omar Sharif) is portrayed in a romantic storyline with Jewish actress Barbra Streisand. Streisand's political support for Israel at the height of military tensions between Egypt and Israel was also a factor.[131][132] |
| 1994 | The Emigrant | This film, which is loosely based on the story of the Biblical character Joseph, raised several protests, since Islam forbids the visual depiction of religious figures.[133] After achieving all necessary approvals from the censors, the film ran successfully in Egyptian cinema until a lawsuit initiated by a fundamentalist Islamist lawyer caused a temporary ban. After a year-long court battle, the director Youssef Chahine won the case, only to face a second ban resulting from a lawsuit initiated by a Christian lawyer who objected to the movie's deviations from the Biblical account.[134] |
| 1998 | The Prince of Egypt | Banned for religious reasons.[135] |
| 2003 | The Matrix Reloaded | Banned due to violent content and its religious themes.[136] |
| 2006 | Borat | Banned in every Arab League country except Lebanon.[7] |
| 2006 | The Da Vinci Code | Banned because of blasphemous content.[26] |
| 2014 | Halawet Rooh (Rouh's Beauty) | Banned right after screening the film in cinemas, after criticism over scenes deemed sexually provocative. The movie was criticized for copying Giuseppe Tornatore's movie Malèna (2000) starring Italian actress Monica Bellucci.[137][138] |
| 2014 | Exodus: Gods and Kings | Banned for historical inaccuracies and showing history from a Zionist viewpoint.[139] |
| 2022 | Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness | Banned because it includes America Chavez, a lesbian character.[140] |
| 2022 | Lightyear | Banned because of a same-sex kiss.[141] |
| 2023 | Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse | Banned due to it containing frames which feature a transgender flag on which the phrase "Protect Trans Kids" is displayed.[42] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Adhura Sapna | Banned due to racial themes towards Fijians.[142] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1930–1952 | Battleship Potemkin | Banned out of fear of inciting a Communist revolution.[8][143] |
| 1943–1945 | Mrs. Miniver | Banned during World War II.[144] |
| 1943–1950 | Johnny Eager | Banned during World War II and finally released on March 31, 1950.[145] |
| 1955–1959 | Rififi | Banned for its depiction of cracking security safes. The government feared it might inspire copycat crimes. The ban was lifted after five years.[18][better source needed] |
| 1960–1981 | Peeping Tom | Banned for 21 years.[18][better source needed] |
| 1962–1986 | One, Two, Three | Banned for 24 years due to its political satire, which could offend their ally and neighbouring country, the Soviet Union. (Finland had a policy of Finlandization).[146][147] |
| 1969–1989 | The Great Silence | Banned by the Finnish Board of Film in June 1969 for violence.[148] Ban was lifted in February 1989 after several minutes of cuts. The film was still rated as K18 (suitable for adults only) and as such VHS versions of the film were also not allowed. The film has never received a proper premier in Finland although it has been aired three times in television (1994, 1999 and 2009).[149] |
| 1971–2000 | The Devils | Banned on its initial release in 1971 for violence and content which could potentially be hazardous to mental health. The decision to ban was ultimately taken to highest available court which did not lift the ban. A second round of banning was then seen in 1985 and the government officials used the same exact phrasing in their decision to ban as was done 14 years earlier. The ban was finally automatically lifted after a law change in 2001.[150] |
| 1972 | One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich | Banned by the Finnish Board of Film. In 1972 and 1974 Swedish television showed the film, resulting in the Swedish television mast on Åland being shut down during the movie because Finns were banned from seeing the film. Director of the Finnish Board of Film, Jerker Eriksson, said that the banning of the film was political because it harmed the Finnish-Soviet relationship. Finnish television showed the film in 1996 on the TV1 YLE channel.[151][152] |
| 1972 | Dirty Harry | Banned in February 1972 for violence and mental health reasons. The distributor challenged the banning and took the decision to ban to Finnish Supreme administrative Court which ruled against banning. After minor cuts, it was banned again. A second round of court cases (again, won by the distributor) forced the banning authorities to allow the film to be distributed. They did so but only after mandatory cuts of over three minutes. Finally in January 1973 the cut film premiered in Finland.[153] |
| 1974–1996[154] | The Texas Chain Saw Massacre | Banned because of graphic violence.[155] |
| 1976 | Ultime grida dalla savana | This film is entirely banned for the possible inclusion of scenes of genuine human death.[citation needed] |
| 1976–2000 | Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma | Banned in 1976 for moral, mental health and appropriateness reasons. The banning renewed again in 1984 with the defined exception of two specific screenings by the Finnish Film Archive. Finally a law change in 2001 removed the ban.[156] |
| 1980 | Cruising | Banned on its initial release.[25] |
| 1980–2000 | All Friday the 13th movies | Banned on each films' initial release until a law change in 2001 when all films in the franchise automatically reverted to a K18 (adults only) classification.[157] |
| 1981–1991 | Dead & Buried | Banned on its initial release. A considerably shortened version was allowed in 1991 with a K16 classification (allowed for persons over the age of 16).[158] |
| 1982 | Just Before Dawn | Banned for violence for 4 months until a cut version (around 2 minutes of cuts) was allowed with a classification of K18 (adults only).[159] |
| 1986 | Born American | Banned in January 1986 for its violence and for political reasons.[160] The political reasons were that the movie was "potentially harmful to international relations". A court appeal to Finnish Supreme administrative Court decided against the banning (after some cuts would be made) and authorities were forced to dismantle the ban (with more cuts) and the movie premiered in late December 1986 after a struggle of almost a year. 20 years after the movie was banned, it was revealed (by a politics researcher and academic Juhani Suomi in his book "Kohti sinipunaa") that the authorities were in fact "instructed" to ban the film and that the banning was dictated by the Soviet Union's ambassador Vladimir Sobolev.[161] Born American was the last movie in Finland to suffer banning for political reasons. |
| 1986–2000 | The House on the Edge of the Park | Banned for violence in 1986; it took six years after the film's release for any distributor to even try to get a classification. A law change in 2001 finally lifted the ban.[162] |
| 1988–2003 | Child's Play | Banned due to excessive graphic violence.[163][164] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1925–1953 | Battleship Potemkin | Banned due to fears that it could inspire revolution.[165] |
| 1930 | L'Age d'Or | Banned in Paris by the police prefect "in the name of public order".[166] |
| 1933–1946 | Zéro de Conduite | Banned because of a plot where pupils take over a repressive school. The ban remained in effect under Nazi occupation for the same reason.[167][168] |
| 1943 | Le Corbeau | Banned from 1945 until 1947, because the film was produced under the Nazi regime with financial support too. It was also seen as a negative portrayal of French people and accused of harboring sympathies for the Vichy regime. After two years, however, the ban was lifted again.[18][better source needed][169] |
| 1950–1990 | Afrique 50 | Banned for criticizing the French colonial rule. Its director, René Vautier, was condemned to one year in prison.[170][171] |
| 1953 | Les statues meurent aussi (Statues Also Die) | Banned because it suggested that Western civilization is responsible for the decline of African art. The film was seen at the Cannes Film Festival in 1953, but subsequently banned by the French censor.[10][172] |
| 1954 | Avant le déluge | Banned due to its controversial criminal content.[171] |
| 1954–1981 | Carmen Jones | Banned due to a technicality in copyright laws on order of the estate of composer Georges Bizet (on whose opera Carmen the film was based).[173][174][175] |
| 1955–1957 | Bel Ami | Banned on its initial release. Released after two years in a censored version.[171][176] |
| 1955–1980 | Le Rendez-vous des quais | Banned for representing dockers who refused to dispatch military supplies for use in the Indochina War.[171][177] |
| 1957–1975 | Paths of Glory | Banned in France for two decades because of its critical depiction of the French army during World War I.[178] |
| 1960 | Le Petit Soldat | Banned on political grounds; the ban was lifted in 1963 with re-editing.[10][179] |
| 1961 | Tu ne tueras point | Banned for two years because it depicts a soldier during World War II who has conscientious objections.[10][180] |
| 1965–1971 | The Battle of Algiers | Banned for six years because of its pro-Algerian and anticolonial message.[10] |
| 1965–1971 | Det kære legetøj | Banned for advocating pornography.[181] |
| 1972 | Mais ne nous délivrez pas du mal | Banned for its depiction of violence and sexuality involving adolescents.[182][183] |
| 1974–1977 | The Texas Chain Saw Massacre | Banned for its violent and sadistic content.[70] |
| 1977 | Camp de Thiaroye | Banned for criticizing the colonial system.[184] |
| 2000 | Baise-Moi | Banned from French cinema screens in 2000 after being given an X-rating.[185][186] Eventually, in August 2001, it was reclassified from age bracket 16 to 18.[187] |
| 2016 | Antichrist | Banned on February 3, 2016, over sexual and violent content, despite being allowed on its initial release in 2009. The ban was a result of the Catholic traditionalist pressure group Promouvoir who wanted the 16 rating to be reclassified to prevent minors from seeing it. A French court ruled in their favor. As a new certificate is being decided the film is now banned from all cinemas, TV broadcast and video release.[188] The movie was released uncut in 2023 with an 18 certificate, the highest in the country. |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1920–1945 | Anders als die Andern (Different from the Others) | Banned due to homosexual themes. During the 1920s, it was restricted for viewing to doctors and medical researchers only. After Hitler came to power in 1933, it was banned again and mostly destroyed by the Nazis.[189] The film was later partially reconstructed.[190] |
| 1929 | The Barnyard Battle (1929) | Banned initially because the cats in this Mickey Mouse cartoon wear helmets that resemble German pickelhaube.[130][191] Today the ban is no longer in effect. |
| 1930–1931 and again from 1933 to 1945 | All Quiet on the Western Front (1929) | Banned in 1930 after protests but then re-admitted in a heavily censored version in 1931 after public debate.[192] After 1933, it was banned by the Nazi regime for its anti-militaristic themes [193] and being "anti-German".[194] Erich Maria Remarque's novel was also banned as well, and was among the "anti-German" books burned in bonfires.[195] At the Capitol Theatre in West Germany in 1952, the film saw its first release in 22 years. |
| 1932–1945 | Kuhle Wampe | Banned because it depicted the government, legal system, and religion in a negative light. Eventually, the ban was lifted due to protests and the film was released in a severely edited version. Six months later, Hitler came into power, causing the movie to be banned again under the Nazi regime until the end of the war. Its director, Slatan Dudow, was arrested for being a member of the Communist Party and banned from entering the country again.[196] |
| 1933–1945 | All movies starring the Marx Brothers. | Banned in Nazi Germany because the comedy stars were Jewish.[197] |
| 1933–1945 | Battleship Potemkin | Banned in Nazi Germany due to fears it could inspire Marxism.[165][198] |
| 1933–1945 | Ecstasy | Banned in Nazi Germany because of the erotic content.[199] |
| 1933–1945 | Mädchen in Uniform | Banned in Nazi Germany because of its lesbian theme.[196] |
| 1933–1945 | The Mad Doctor | Banned in Nazi Germany, because of the horror atmosphere in this Mickey Mouse short.[200] |
| 1933−1945 | Mysterium des Geschlechtes | Banned in Nazi Germany because of the erotic content.[199] |
| 1933−1945 | Vier von der Infanterie (Westfront 1918, also known as Comrades of 1918) | Banned in Nazi Germany for being a pacifist war drama.[196] |
| 1934–1945 | M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder | Banned in Nazi Germany.[201][202] |
| 1934–1945 | Nana | Banned in Nazi Germany because of its plot, depicting a soldier visiting a prostitute, which violated the military's sensibilities and honor code.[196] |
| 1934–1945 | The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933) | Banned in Nazi Germany because Max Baer was Jewish. |
| 1934–1945 | The Testament of Dr. Mabuse | Banned in Nazi Germany for "presenting criminal acts so detailed and fascinating that they might tempt copy-cats". It also had an anti-authoritarian tone and certain dialogue of Mabuse was lifted directly from Mein Kampf.[26][168][203] |
| 1936–1945 | The Bohemian Girl | Banned in Nazi Germany, because the positive depiction of Roma people "had no place" in the Third Reich.[204] |
| 1936–1956 | Modern Times | Banned in Nazi Germany for supposedly advocating Communism.[205][206] |
| 1937–1945 | La Grande Illusion | Banned in Nazi Germany for its anti-war message. Head of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels named its director Jean Renoir "Cinematographic Enemy Number One".[207] |
| 1938–1950 | A Prussian Love Story | Banned in Nazi Germany because the plot of a love affair between the Emperor and an actress was too similar to Head of Propaganda Goebbels's own affair.[208] Even after the war it took until 1950 before the film saw a release. |
| 1939–1945 | Kitty und die Weltkonferenz (Kitty and the World Conference) | Banned in Nazi Germany despite an initially successful box office run. Following the outbreak of the Second World War that same year, Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels withdrew it from cinemas as he felt it presented a too favourable view of Great Britain.[209] |
| 1939–1977 | Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939) | The first anti-Nazi movie made in Hollywood before the start of World War II, Adolf Hitler banned it and all Warner Bros. films from exhibition throughout the remainder of his tenure as German chancellor. He reportedly planned to execute the makers of this film upon winning the war.[210] It was not publicly screened in Germany until 11 March 1977. |
| 1939–1945 | Mr. Smith Goes to Washington | Banned in Nazi Germany because it showed democracy working well.[211] |
| 1940–1945 | The Great Dictator | Banned in Nazi Germany for mocking Nazism and Hitler. During World War II, it was once shown to German soldiers in 1942: In German-occupied Yugoslavia, local guerillas sneaked a copy from Greece into an army-cinema in an act of cultural sabotage. After half of the film had been shown, German officers stopped the screening and threatened to shoot the Yugoslavian projectionist. Apparently, the film was ordered by the Reich Chancellery.[8][212] It was first shown in West Germany as late as 1958. |
| 1940–1945 | La Kermesse Heroïque (Carnival in Flanders) (1935) | Banned in Nazi Germany and Belgium by Joseph Goebbels because of its pacifist themes. The director, Jacques Feyder, was later hunted down for arrest, but managed to escape to Switzerland.[48] |
| 1943–1949 | Titanic (1943) | Banned in Nazi Germany by Joseph Goebbels because some of the scenes could demoralize the audience, despite being made by the Nazi propaganda department itself. The Allied Control Council banned the film after the war too, because of its Nazi propaganda. After the end of the occupation, the German Motion picture rating system classified it to age 12 or older and to age 6 or older with parental guidance. It was sometimes shown on west German TV after the war and a censored, low quality VHS copy was released in 1992[citation needed]. |
| 1944–1945 | Große Freiheit Nr. 7 (Great Freedom No. 7) | Banned in Nazi Germany. It had its premiere in occupied Prague in December 1944.[213][214] |
| 1945 | Auf Wiedersehn, Franziska! (Goodbye, Franziska!) | Banned by the Allied Forces after World War Two, because of its ending, which reminded the viewers to support the war effort. It was eventually allowed back after director Helmut Käutner was able to convince officials that the propaganda sequence was no reflection of his political ideology and was added at request of Nazi censors. Since the rest of the film was fairly a-political it was brought back in circulation, with only the propaganda end sequence removed.[214] |
| 1945– | Der Ewige Jude (The Eternal Jew) | Banned since 1945 because of its anti-semitic Nazi propaganda content. It is exclusively allowed for use in college classrooms and other academic purposes; however, exhibitors must have formal education in "media science and the history of the Holocaust." Public use is prohibited as of 2013.[215] |
| 1945– | Jud Süss (1940) | Banned in 1945 from German exhibition by decree of the Allied Military Occupation.[216] Director Veit Harlan was required by court order to destroy what was then believed to be the only remaining negative of Jud Süß and he reportedly did this in April 1954. A few years later, however, copies of the film began to turn up to the embarrassment of the West German government. After a lengthy investigation, it was determined that another negative existed in East Germany and it was used it to make prints that were dubbed in Arabic and distributed in Middle Eastern countries such as Egypt and Lebanon. Though that negative has never been located, it has been widely suspected that this version was produced and distributed by the Stasi or the KGB in order to arouse anti-semitism among Egyptian and Palestinians against the US backed Israel (and henceforth, support for the Soviet backed Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser).[217][218][219] The copyright of the film is held by the government-owned F.W. Murnau Foundation. The Foundation only permits screenings of the film when accompanied by an introduction explaining the historical context and the intended impact.[220] |
| 1951 | Der Untertan (film) (The Kaiser's Lackey) | Banned in western Germany because of "anticonstitutional" content.[221] Uncut version released in western Germany in 1971. |
| 1956 | Du und mancher Kamerad | Banned in western Germany because of "anticonstitutional" content.[221] |
| 1956 | Thomas Muentzer (film) (Thomas Müntzer) | Banned in western Germany because of "anticonstitutional" content.[221] |
| 1957–1959 | Paths of Glory | Banned to avoid straining relations with France.[18][better source needed] |
| 1958 | And Quiet Flows the Don | Banned in western Germany because of "anticonstitutional" content.[221] Part 1 was released in western Germany in 1959, Parts 2 and 3 were first broadcast in western German television in 1968. |
| 1960–1965 | Higher Principle | Banned in western Germany until 1965 because of "anti-German" content.[222] |
| 1965–1990 | Das Kaninchen bin ich (The Rabbit Is Me) | Banned by the East-German Communist government for its criticism of everyday life in the country. While not directly referring to politics it still was perceived as dangerous criticism of the system.[223] Due to the film's infamy all banned films in the DDR were referred to as "rabbit films". The film remained banned until Germany was unified again in 1990.[196][224] |
| 1965–1990 | Denk bloss nicht, ich heule (Just Don't Think I'll Cry) | Banned by the East-German Communist government for its criticism of the regime.[196] |
| 1966–1989 | Spur der Steine (Trace of Stones) | Banned by the East-German Communist government.[196] |
| 1971–1989 | Die Russen kommen (The Russians Are Coming) | Banned by the East-German Communist government because of its theme where a young Nazi lives in fear of the approaching Russian army. Even though the Russians are eventually portrayed in a sympathetic light, the plot was too controversial, especially three years after the Prague Spring.[196] |
| 1985–2011 | The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) | The film was not shown in German cinemas before 1978 and even then only in an edited version. The release on VHS was confiscated by a German court in 1985 for violating German Criminal Code Section 131 (depictions of violence). The confiscation means that even selling to adults is punishable. The confiscation was lifted by the Frankfurt district court in 2011.[225] |
| since 1999 | Braindead | The film was shown in German cinemas in an edited version. The uncut release was confiscated in 1999 for violating German Criminal Code Section 131 (depictions of violence).[226] A heavily censored version is available in which around 12 minutes are missing.[227] |
| 2012–2013 | Saw 3D | The film was shown in German cinemas in the uncut version. The uncut DVD release was confiscated in 2012 by the district court of Berlin Tiergarten for violating German Criminal Code Section 131 (depictions of violence).[228] A censored version with a "Keine Jugendfreigabe"-rating (No youth admitted) is available with around one minute missing.[229] The confiscation was lifted in 2013, but the uncut version remains on the list of media harmful to minors and may only be offered to adults.[230] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1955 | Les Maîtres Fous | A documentary about the religious rituals of the Hauka tribe. Banned in Ghana and several other French and English colonies in Africa at the time because of the Africans' blatant attempts to mimic and mock the "white oppressors". On the other hand, African students, teachers, and directors found the film to perpetrate an "exotic racism" of the African people.[231][232] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1914 | Golfo (1914) | Banned for its royalist sentiments.[233] |
| 1967–1974 | Z (1969) | Banned under the colonel's regime, for being critical of the junta.[234] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | The Dark Knight | Banned in 2022 after a review, despite it being partially filmed in Hong Kong and having previously been allowed.[235] |
| 2023 | Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey | Banned due to Winnie-the-Pooh being banned in Mainland China.[236] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1945 | Jud Süss (1940) | Banned since the end of the World War II due to its anti-Jewish and pro-Nazi content.[citation needed] |
| 1947–1979 | Song of the Cornfields | Banned for being 'clerical', depiction of the controversial issue of Hungarian prisoners held by the Soviets and depicting religious values.[237] |
| 1956–1986 | Keserű igazság (Bitter Truth) | Banned for criticising the forced industrialisation of Hungary.[237] |
| 1956–1989 | Eltüsszentett birodalom (An Empire Sneezed Away) | Banned for depicting a monarch sharing similarities with the dictatorship of Hungarian communist leader Mátyás Rákosi.[237] |
| 1957–1984 | A Remarkable Case | Banned for depicting the corruption of the dictatorship of Hungarian communist leader Mátyás Rákosi.[237] |
| 1969–1981, 1998–2010 | A tanú (The Witness) | Banned under the Communist government for almost a decade, because it satirized the regime.[238][239] Was later banned again in 1998 for containing an explicit depiction of animal abuse. This scene was later cut, resulting in the film being unbanned in 2010 and released with a 12 rating.[citation needed] |
| 1974–1984 | Bástyasétány '74 (Bastion promenade '74) | Banned for unclear reasons.[237] |
| 1983–1989 | Dream Brigade | Banned for being too radical.[237] |
| 1984 | The Final Countdown | Presumably it was banned for political reasons.[240] |
| 1985–1990 | "hu:Bebukottak" (Hungarian slang word, meaning approximately "they failed") | He presented the life of the juvenile prison in the Tököl settlement in a documentary film. It was banned due to its brutality – with only acted scenes in the film. It was only after the Hungarian regime change in 1990 that it could be freely distributed again.[241] |
| 1994 | ÁVOs | The 1994 MTV film about the State Protection Authority|ÁVO was banned due to a complaint by MAZSIHISZ, on the grounds that it exaggerated the origin of the perpetrators.[242] |
| 1994 | Törvénytelen szocializmus ("Illegal Socialism") | The 1994 MTV film about illegal Socialism was banned due to a complaint by MAZSIHISZ, on the grounds that it exaggerated the origin of the perpetrators.[243] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1985–1999 | The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) | Banned due to high level of violence; a censored version was later released.[155] |
| 1987 | Nekromantik | Banned due to its transgressive subject matter (including necrophilia) and audacious imagery.[citation needed] |
| 1992 | Cannibal Holocaust | Banned due to very high impact violence and offensive depictions of both human and animal cruelty. Still banned.[155] |
|
Main article: List of films banned in India |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1955 | Genangan Air Mata (1955) | Banned as of Roostijati's death in 1975.[244] |
| 1976 | Max Havelaar | Banned for its parallels between the anti-colonial story and the then present-day regime.[10] |
| 1982 | The Year of Living Dangerously | Banned for its criticism of Sukarno's regime. The ban was lifted in 1999.[245] |
| 1994 | Schindler's List | Banned for being sympathetic to the Jewish cause.[246][247] |
| 1994 | True Lies | Banned due to controversy that focused on Muslim leaders insulting Islam and portraying themselves as religious extremists.[248] |
| 2006 | The Black Road, Tale of Crocodiles, Passabe, and Timor Lorosae: The Unseen Massacre | Banned for being critical of the Indonesian Government. The Black Road is about Aceh and the other three films are about East Timor.[249] |
| 2007 | Long Road to Heaven | Banned on the island of Bali, as local politicians worried that the film, which about the 2002 Bali bombings, might promote hatred and intolerance.[250] |
| 2009 | Balibo | Banned for being critical of the Indonesian government. This Australian film is based on the story of the Balibo Five, a group of journalists killed during the 1975 Indonesian invasion of East Timor.[251] |
| 2014 | Noah | Banned because of its depiction of the prophets.[252] |
| 2015 | Fifty Shades of Grey | Banned due to its sexual content;[253][254] however, Johan Tjasmadi, member of Lembaga Sensor Film (Indonesia Film Censorship Board), said that the film was never registered to the board.[255] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1969 | Gaav (The Cow) | Banned briefly by the regime of The Shah, due to what was perceived as the film depicting Iran as a rural, culturally backwards society. The film would later be allowed to screen on the condition that the film would begin with a disclaimer explaining to audiences that the film is set several decades ago, and does not reflect a modern Iran.[256] |
| 1975 | Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom | Banned due to graphic violence and nudity.[26] |
| 1980 | Cruising | Banned on its initial release.[25] |
| 1981 | Bita | Banned under the censorship act of 1981 because it criticized exploitation of women by men.[116] |
| 1981 | Ghaire aze Khoudo Hitch Kass Naboud | Banned under the censorship act of 1981 because it depicts a lesbian relationship and a controversy.[116] |
| 1996 | Gabbeh | Banned for being "subversive".[257] |
| 1996 | Nūn o goldūn (A Moment of Innocence) | Banned because of its theme that different people can experience the same incident in a different way.[257][258] |
| 2000 | The Circle | Briefly banned on its initial release.[259] |
| 2001 | Zoolander | Banned for perceived support of gay rights.[260] |
| 2002 | Ten | Banned for discussion of gender discrimination.[261] |
| 2003 | Crimson Gold | [262] |
| 2004–2020 | Marmoulak | Pulled from cinemas two weeks after its premiere in Iran due to the film mocking conservative attitudes of the clerics in Iran.[263] In 2020, the uncut film was granted a license for screening by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.[264] |
| 2006 | Offside | [265] |
| 2010 | 300 | Banned for its negative portrayal of Persian people and the Achaemenid Empire.[266] |
| 2012 | Argo | Banned for its negative portrayal of Iran.[267] It was the only Academy Award-winning Best Picture to be banned in the country. |
| 2020 | There Is No Evil | Secretly recorded and banned from exhibition for its themes criticising the Iranian government's use of capital punishment. The government also temporarily prohibited the film's director Mohammad Rasoulof from making films in the country, imprisoned him, and prohibited him from travel outside Iran.[268] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Ben-Hur | Banned from all Arab League states because actress Haya Harareet was Israeli.[6] |
| 1999 | South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut | Banned under the Ba'athist regime for depicting Saddam Hussein in a mocking light.[8] |
| 2006 | Borat | Banned in every Arab League country except Lebanon.[7] |
| 2015 | American Sniper | Banned for being an "insult to the population".[269] |
| 2022 | Lightyear | Banned due to a brief lesbian kiss scene.[40][41] |
|
Main article: Film censorship in the Republic of Ireland |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1948 | Oliver Twist | Banned on its initial release, because the character of Fagin was deemed to be antisemitic.[270] |
| 1957 | The Girl in the Kremlin | Banned because it may have harmed Israel's diplomatic relations with Moscow.[271] |
| 1957 | China Gate | Banned for indulging in excessive cruelty. The Israeli film censorship board indicated the film depicted Chinese and Russian soldiers as "monsters".[272] |
| 1965 | Goldfinger | Banned after it was revealed that one of the main actors, Gert Fröbe, had a Nazi past.[273] The film had only run for six weeks in the theaters.[274] It was unbanned a few months later when a man went to the Israeli Embassy in Vienna and told the staff that Fröbe hid him and his mother from the Nazis (which may have saved their lives).[275][276] |
| 1973 | Hitler: The Last Ten Days | Banned because the censorship board unanimously felt that the portrayal of Hitler was "too human".[277] |
| 1987 | In the Realm of the Senses | Banned because of pornographic content.[278][279] |
| 1988 | The Last Temptation of Christ | Banned on the grounds that it could offend Christians.[280] |
| 2004, 2021 | Jenin, Jenin | Banned by the Israeli Film Ratings Board on the premise that it was libelous and might offend the public; the Supreme Court of Israel later overturned the decision.[279][281] In 2021, the film was banned yet again after a lower court ruled in favor of a plaintiff who had appeared in the film.[282][283] |
| 2004 | Shrek 2 | Banned briefly in 2004, though not for the film itself, but because of the Hebrew dub. A joke about Israeli singer David D'Or's high voice was added, in which one character threaten to emasculate another by saying "Let's do a David D'or on him". This remark prompted the artist to take legal action.[284] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1933–1945 | Duck Soup | Banned under the fascist government of Benito Mussolini for poking fun at dictators and war.[197] |
| 1937–1945 | La Grande Illusion | Banned under the fascist government of Benito Mussolini for its anti-war message.[207] |
| 1955 | Totò and Carolina | Banned on its initial release for poking fun at the police.[285] |
| 1962 | Jules and Jim | Banned initially for its sexual attitudes, but after protest this ban was quickly lifted.[18][better source needed] |
| 1972–1986 | Last Tango in Paris | Banned from 1972 to 1986 for being "obscene".[155] |
| 1982–2009 | Lion of the Desert | Banned from 1982 until 2009 as it was considered damaging to the honor of the Italian Army.[286] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1939–1946 | The Mikado | Banned until after World War II because could be construed as disrespectful towards the Emperor of Japan.[287] |
| 1945–1952 | The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail | Banned in Japan by the US occupying government for seven years, because of the "feudal values".[18][better source needed] |
| 1976–1982 | In the Realm of the Senses | Banned in Japan for its graphic sex scenes.[18] In 1982 the court ruled in director Nagisa Ōshima's favor, but the film is still only available in a censored cut.[288][289] |
| 2011 | Hereafter | Withdrawn from all cinemas a few days after the 11 March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, two weeks earlier than originally planned.[290] "Warner Bros. spokesperson Satoru Otani said the film's terrifying tsunami scenes were 'not appropriate' at this time".[290] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Ben-Hur | Banned from all Arab League states because actress Haya Harareet was Israeli.[6] |
| 2006 | Borat | Banned in every Arab League country except Lebanon.[7] |
| 2006 | The Da Vinci Code | Banned because of blasphemous content.[26] |
| 2022 | Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness | Banned because of the prominence of America Chavez, who is a lesbian character.[291] |
| 2022 | Lightyear | Banned due to a brief lesbian kiss scene.[40][41] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Borat | Banned due to jokingly accusing Kazakhstan of antisemitism and misogyny. However, the film's catchphrase, "Very nice", was later used in an official tourism campaign.[292] |
| 2022 | Lightyear | Banned due to depictions of lesbianism.[293] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | The Wolf of Wall Street | Banned for explicit sexual content, profanity, drug use and nudity.[294] |
| 2014 | Stories of Our Lives | Banned because this documentary about being gay in Kenya "showed obscenity, explicit scenes of sexual activities" and promoted homosexuality.[295] |
| 2015 | Fifty Shades of Grey | Banned due to its sexual content.[253][254] |
| 2018 (overturned) | Rafiki | Initially banned due to depictions of homosexuality. However, following public outrage, the film's director, Wanuri Kahiu, sued the Kenya Film Classification Board for banning the film. The court ruled in favour Kuhiu, effectively unbanning the film.[296][297] |
| Date | Title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Ben-Hur | Banned from all Arab League states because actress Haya Harareet was Israeli.[6] | |
| 1999 | South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut | Banned for offending the Muslim Brotherhood. The TV series itself is also banned in the country.[298] That apparently led to making Block 13. | |
| 2004 | Fahrenheit 9/11 | Banned for being critical of the Iraq war and being an insult to Saudi Arabia's royal family.[299][300] | |
| 2006 | Borat | Banned in every Arab League country except Lebanon.[7] | |
| 2007 | The Kingdom | Banned for being a "false depiction" of the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia.[37] | |
| 2017 | Beauty and the Beast | Banned due to homosexual references that were found to be offensive.[301][302] | |
| 2020 | Onward | Banned due to the film's minor reference to a lesbian relationship.[303] | |
| 2021 | Eternals | Banned due to the film's character of Phastos and his husband.[304] | |
| 2022 | Death on the Nile | The film is banned in Kuwait due to the inclusion of Israeli actress Gal Gadot.[305] | |
| 2022 | Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness | Banned due to one of the film's characters America Chavez being a lesbian.[306] | |
| 2022 | Lightyear | Banned due to a brief lesbian kiss scene.[40][41] | |
| 2023 | Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – To the Swordsmith Village | The first Japanese film to be banned due to a scene's explicit nature where Mitsuri Kanroji, Love Hashira, takes a shower in the hot spring.[307] | |
| 2023 | Talk to Me | Banned for featuring Zoe Terakes, who is non-binary and transgender.[308] | |
| 2023 | Barbie | Kuwaiti ministry of information's committee on cinematic censorship censored the film because of its "ideas and beliefs that are alien to the Kuwaiti society".[309] | Banned due to "promoting ideas and beliefs that are not in line with the cultures and values".[310][311] |
| 2023 | Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse | Banned due to it containing frames which feature a transgender flag on which the phrase "Protect Trans Kids" is displayed.[42] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Lightyear | De facto banned because films in Kyrgyzstan are distributed from Kazakhstan, which has banned the film.[312] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Ben-Hur | Banned from all Arab League states because actress Haya Harareet was Israeli.[6] |
| 1993 | Schindler's List | [313] |
| 2006 | The Da Vinci Code | Banned because of blasphemous content.[26] |
| 2008–2008 | Persepolis | Banned initially after some clerics found it to be "offensive to Iran and Islam." The ban was later revoked after an outcry in Lebanese intellectual and political circles.[314] |
| 2008 | Waltz with Bashir | The film is banned in Lebanon, with the most harsh critics saying the film depicts a vague and violent time in Lebanon's history. A movement of bloggers, among them the Lebanese Inner Circle, +961 and others have rebelled against the Lebanese government's ban of the film, and have managed to get the film seen by local Lebanese critics, in defiance of their government's request on banning it. The film was privately screened in January 2009 in Beirut in front of 90 people.[315] Since then, many screenings have taken place. Unofficial copies are also available in the country. |
| 2010 | Chou sar? | The General Security Department did not state the reason behind banning the documentary, which covered the Lebanese Civil War.[316][317] |
| 2011 | Beirut Hotel | Banned for political reasons.[318] |
| 2011 | Shame | [313] |
| 2012 | Fetih 1453 | Banned for being offensive to Christianity.[319] |
| 2012 | The Attack | Banned because the director, Ziad Doueiri, filmed in Israel.[320] |
| 2013 | Too Much Love Will Kill You | Banned for being blasphemous and provocative.[321] |
| 2013 | I Offered You Pleasure | The film tackles issues of sexual discrimination and the oppression of social traditions.[322] |
| 2013 | Stranger By The Lake | The film shows a romantic relationship between two men.[322] |
| 2015 | Wasp | The film centers around a gay couple.[323] |
| 2015 | I Say Dust | Banned because of a same-sex kiss.[324] |
| 2015 | In This Land Lay Graves of Mine | This film tackles fears of communities about demographic partition stemming from massacres and displacements perpetrated along sectarian lines during the Lebanese Civil War. It was banned for "stimulating sectarian and partisan zealotries and disturbing civil peace".[325][326] |
| 2016 | Personal Affairs | Produced by an Israeli company and filmed in Israel.[327] |
| 2017 | The Beach House | This film by Roy Dib, which tells the story of a late-night dinner party in which two sisters play host to an old friend and his male companion, was banned due to the revelation that the two male characters were lovers.[328] |
| 2017–2017 | Mawlana | A critique of corruption and fundamentalism. Its ban was lifted after parts of the film were cut out.[329][328] |
| 2017 | Wonder Woman | Banned because it casts the Israeli actress Gal Gadot.[330] |
| 2017 | Panoptic | This documentary was banned in Lebanon due to the director Rana Eid refusing to remove a single sentence and any military presence, as well for being critical of the Lebanese military.[331] |
| 2017 | Justice League | Banned because it casts the Israeli actress Gal Gadot.[332] |
| 2017 | Jungle | Banned because it tells the true story of a former Israeli navy serviceman.[333][334] |
| 2018 | The Nun | Banned because it is "offensive to Christianity".[335] |
| 2022 | Death on the Nile | Banned because it casts the Israeli actress Gal Gadot.[305] |
| 2022 | Minions: The Rise of Gru | No reason was given. Two minions kiss in the movie, and a nun attempts to use nunchucks.[336][337] |
| 2022 | Lightyear | Banned because of a same-sex kiss.[141][338] |
| 2023 | Scream VI | Banned because of a same-sex kiss between the two openly queer couple Mindy Meeks-Martin and Anika Kayoko.[339][340] |
| 2023 | Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse | No reason was given for the ban, but it may have been because a transgender flag, which had the slogan "Protect Trans Kids" on it, was briefly shown on Gwen's bedroom wall.[42] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Ben-Hur | Banned from all Arab League states because actress Haya Harareet was Israeli.[6] |
| 2006 | Borat | Banned in every Arab League country except Lebanon.[7] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey | Banned due to Winnie the Pooh being banned in Mainland China.[236] |
|
Main article: List of films banned in Malaysia |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1956 | The Ten Commandments | This film was banned due to its depiction of Moses, as per Islamic custom, prophets (such as Moses) and messengers of God cannot be portrayed in any medium.[341] |
| 1999 | The Prince of Egypt | Banned due to the Ministry of Islamic Affairs (then known as the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs) taking offence to the depiction of Moses in the film.[341] |
| 2012 | Innocence of Muslims | Banned due to being blasphemous and critical of Islam.[342] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1972–2000 | A Clockwork Orange | Banned from 1972 until 2000.[343] |
| 1977 | Raid on Entebbe | Prime Minister Dom Mintoff personally banned the screening of the film claiming the film promotes violence against an independent nation. Allegedly banned on a personal request from Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi.[344] |
| 1989 | The Last Temptation of Christ | Banned for blasphemous content. The video release was also withdrawn.[345] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Ben-Hur | Banned from all Arab League states because actress Haya Harareet was Israeli.[6] |
| 2006 | Borat | Banned in every Arab League country except Lebanon.[7] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Fando y Lis | This film was initially banned due to a full-scale riot caused by its premiere at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival breaking out[346] Fando y Lis was shown in New York's 5th Avenue Cinema where it was dubbed, re-edited and cut by 13 minutes. It was shown in London in February 1971, re-titled as Tar Babies, running 98 minutes. It was not released in Mexico until July 1972.[347] |
| 1988 | The Last Temptation of Christ | Banned for blasphemic themes.[18][better source needed] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Ben-Hur | Banned from all Arab League states because actress Haya Harareet was Israeli.[6] |
| 2006 | Borat | Banned in every Arab League country except Lebanon.[7] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | The Simpsons Movie | Banned over the "juxtaposition of the colors yellow and red", which is seen as support for rebel groups.[348] |
| 2008 | Rambo | Banned for negative portrayals of Burmese soldiers.[349] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1932 | Scram! | Banned on its initial release because of a scene where Laurel and Hardy sit on a bed with a woman to whom they were not married. Censors felt this was "indecent". Today the film is not banned.[350] |
| 2010 | Maladolescenza | The uncut version was banned since 25 March 2010 by the court of Alkmaar, which classified several scenes as child pornography.[351][352] The decision therefore means that possession, distribution and knowingly gaining access to the movie is prohibited.[353] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1975–1992 | Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom | Banned on its initial release,[10] but lifted after seventeen years.[26] |
| 1976–1985 | Tarzoon: Shame of the Jungle | Banned due to content that would be contrary to public decency and undesirable to public interest.[354] (VHS release was later approved at R16[355]) |
| 1980, 2006 | Cannibal Holocaust | Banned due to its extremely violent content and actual on-screen killings of animals.[356] (also refused release in 2006) |
| 1981–1988 | Mad Max | Banned in 1979 because of a graphic violent death.[357] (VHS release was later approved at R18[358]) |
| 2004–2021 | Puni Puni Poemy | Banned on the grounds that it "tends to promote and support the exploitation of children and young persons for sexual purposes, and to a lesser extent, the use of sexual coercion to compel persons to submit to sexual conduct", and for high-impact violence and cruelty.[359] In 2021 the Office reconsidered the series and classified it R16.[360] |
| 2005 | Love Camp 7 | Although an edited VHS version had been classified R18 in 1996, the unedited DVD version was banned in 2005 for "exploit[ing] the nudity of women and present[ing] real and tragic events in a flippant and offensive way."[361] |
| 2005 | Vase de Noces | Banned because the film "promotes and supports bestiality".[362] As of 2017, it is still banned.[362] |
| 2007–2008 | Hostel: Part II | Banned due to one scene that "fuses an act of extreme violence with sexual gratification". This scene's inclusion led to the film being classified as objectionable under s3(2)(f) of the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993 on the grounds that it "tend[s] to promote and support acts of torture and the infliction of extreme violence and extreme cruelty",[363][364] thus making it illegal for the film to be displayed publicly. Sony Pictures initially refused to remove the scene. However, on 29 January 2008, after the scene was excised, the film was rated R18 for "torture and sadistic violence".[365] |
| 2010 | I Spit on Your Grave (2010 remake) | Banned "because it tends to promote and support the use of violence to compel any person to submit to sexual conduct".[366][367] |
| 2010 | Ikki Tousen: Dragon Destiny | Banned on the grounds of the series' violent and sexual scenes. Due to the reaction from New Zealand film authorities, distributor Madman Entertainment chose not to release the remaining volumes there.[368] |
| 2011 | Megan Is Missing | Banned for its sexual violence involving young people.[369] |
| 2011 | The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) | Banned due to its gore, violence and sexually explicit content.[370] |
| 2012 | A Serbian Film | Banned by the government on May 25, 2012, due to "objectionable content" (offensive depictions of sexual violence, pedophilia, extreme violence, necrophilia and/or other content that is offensive and abhorrent) [371] |
| 2013 | Maniac | Banned from theatrical and home video release; the OFLC felt that "the tacit invitation to enjoy cruel and violent behavior through its first-person portrayal and packaging as entertainment is likely to lead to an erosion of empathy for some viewers".[372] |
| 2013 | I Spit on Your Grave 2 | Banned "because it tends to promote and support the use of violence to compel any person to submit to sexual conduct".[citation needed] |
| 2016 | Cat Sick Blues | Banned because of a scene in which a woman is orally raped to death. The distributor refused to remove the scene from the film.[373] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | District 9 | Banned due to accusations of being xenophobic and racist towards Nigerians.[374] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1948–present | All foreign films | North Korea bans all foreign films, as well as almost all foreign products, including all foreign media, regardless of content.[375][376][377][378]
The British film Bend It Like Beckham was broadcast on North Korean state television on 26 December 2010, to celebrate foreign relations between the two nations; the film contains significant sub-plots about religion and homosexuality, but was edited down to half its original runtime for the broadcast.[379] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1964–1971 | 491 | Banned due to homosexual themes; a censored version was later released.[380] |
| 1972 | Pink Flamingos | Banned on its initial release until the 1980s.[25] |
| 1974–1997 | The Texas Chain Saw Massacre | Banned due to high impact scary violence. Ban lifted in 1997 and re-released uncut with an 18 (Adults only) rating.[155] |
| 1979–1980 | Monty Python's Life of Brian | Banned due to jokes deemed offensive to religious people. In Sweden the film was allowed for release and even screened with the tagline "The film so funny that it got banned in Norway".[381] In 1980 the Norwegian ban was lifted.[155] |
| 1987 | Nekromantik | Banned outright by the Norwegian Media Authority due to outrageous, offensive & abhorrent content (Necrophilia, extreme violence, animal cruelty, and/or other material that is disgusting & abhorrent).[citation needed] |
| 1998 | Kite | Banned due to a graphic scene of sexual assault on a minor.[382] |
| 2009 | Ichi The Killer | Banned due to high impact violence and cruelty. In January 2009, The Norwegian Media Authority classified the film as "Rejected" and banned the film outright in Norway after the government learned of an incident at the Stockholm Film Festival where two people both vomited and fainted while watching the film. The film remains strictly prohibited in Norway.[155] |
| 2011 | A Serbian Film | Banned due to violation of criminal law sections 204a and 382 which deal with the sexual representation of children and extreme violence.[155] An edited version of the film was eventually passed with an 18 rating.[383] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Ben-Hur | Banned from all Arab League states because actress Haya Harareet was Israeli.[6] |
| 2006 | Borat | Banned in every Arab League country except Lebanon.[7] |
| 2020 | Onward | Banned due to referencing to a lesbian relationship |
| 2021 | Eternals | Banned due to the film's character of Phastos and his husband.[39] |
| 2022 | Lightyear | Banned due to a brief lesbian kiss scene.[40][41] |
| 2023 | Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse | Banned due to it containing frames which feature a transgender flag on which the phrase "Protect Trans Kids" is displayed.[42] |
| 2023 | Barbie | Banned due to "promoting ideas and beliefs that are not in line with the cultures and values".[384][385] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Lightyear | The film was banned from distribution in certain OIC member states which include Egypt, Indonesia, Lebanon, Kuwait, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and few others,[386][387] due to a scene featuring same-sex kiss between Uzo Aduba's female character Alisha Hawthorne and her partner.[388] The People's Republic of China, not an OIC member but a fellow SCO member with Pakistan, also requested that the scene in question be removed.[389] The scene was initially cut from the film in mid-March 2022, but following, Disney CEO Bob Chapek's controversial opposition to Florida's Parental Rights in Education bill and the internal polarizing uproar it caused within Disney, the scene was reinstated.[390][391] Speaking to Variety's Angelique Jackson, Chris Evans had stated about the scene saying: "I've been asked the question a few times — it's nice, and it's wonderful, it makes me happy. It's tough to not be a little frustrated that it even has to be a topic of discussion [...] The goal is that we can get to a point where it is the norm, and that this doesn't have to be some uncharted waters, that eventually this is just the way it is. That representation across the board is how we make films."[392] |
|
Main article: List of films banned in Pakistan |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | The Blood of Hussain | Banned by General Zia ul-Haq, after he seized power in a coup de état in 1977, as the film portrays a fictional military coup in an unfavourable light.[393] |
| 2006 | The Da Vinci Code | Banned because of blasphemous content.[26] |
| 2012 | Agent Vinod | Banned by the Central Board of Film Censors of Pakistan, for containing various controversial references to the Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence.[26][394] |
| 2016 | Maalik | Banned by the Government of Pakistan.[395] |
| 2016 | Sarabjit | Banned because of blasphemous content and excessive controversial depictions. |
| 2023 | Barbie | Initially banned in Punjab due to it containing objectionable content but it was rescinded.[396] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Fifty Shades of Grey | Banned due to sexual content.[397] |
| 2016 | The Opposition | Also pulled from the Papua New Guinea Human Rights Film Festival.[398] The film follows Joe Moses as he struggles to save his community from policemen wielding machetes and guns descending on the Paga Hill Settlement in Papua New Guinea to bulldoze their houses to the ground. |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Ben-Hur | Banned from all Arab League states because actress Haya Harareet was Israeli.[6] |
| 2006 | Borat | Banned in every Arab League country except Lebanon.[7] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1940 | The Great Dictator | Banned under the military dictatorship of Higinio Morínigo.[399] |
| 1971 | Sacco & Vanzetti | Banned under the military dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner for "encouraging Communism".[10] |
| 1973 | State of Siege | Banned under the military dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner.[10] |
| 1979 | The Deer Hunter | Banned under the military dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner for "danger of being misunderstood".[10] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1965 | Taita Cristo | This film, an Argentina-Peru coproduction, which revolves around the sufferance of a village in Northern Peru face to a drought had its screening banned in Lima "for including scenes which offended the human dignity, moral values and the Catholic creed".[400] |
| 1973 | Runan Caycu | This film, produced by the National System of Support to Social Mobilization, about the struggles of the Cuzco peasants movement against the gamonales and hacendados, seen by the eyes of communal leader Saturnino Huillca, showing also the role and violent participation the Armed Forces had during the struggle preceding the Peruvian Agrarian Reform, was censored by the Central Information Office and never got its premiere in Peru. It could only be shown in the alternative and clandestine circuit of trade unions and cineclubs. Despite this, the film won the Silver Dove at the 1973 International Documentary Film Festival in Leipzig.[401][402] |
|
Main article: List of films banned in the Philippines |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1930 | All Quiet on the Western Front | Banned because censors felt it was "pro-German". Ironically enough it was also banned in Nazi Germany for being "anti-German".[194] |
| 1945 | The Wind from the East | Banned due to anti-Polish sentiment and historical distortions of the Soviet invasion of Poland.[403] |
| 1946 | Australia Marches with Britain | Banned without a reason given.[404] |
| 1946 | Men of Timor | Banned without a reason given.[404] |
| 1967–1985 | Ręce do góry (Hands Up!) | Banned under the Communist government for 18 years for depicting the Stalinist era.[405] Its director, Jerzy Skolimowski, was so outraged he left his country and moved to the West. |
| 1972 | Diabeł (The Devil) | Banned under the Communist government because of its political anti-war theme.[406][407] |
| 1973–1981 | Opowieść o człowieku, który wykonał 552% normy (A Story of a Man Who Filled 552% of the Quota) | Banned under the Communist government for its depiction of the Stalinist past. It was only released after the director, Wojciech Wiszniewski, died in 1981.[405] |
| 1975–1981 | Wanda Gościmska. Włókniarka (Wanda Gościmińska. A Weaver) | Banned under the Communist government for its depiction of the Stalinist past. It was only released after the director, Wojciech Wiszniewski, died in 1981.[405] |
| 1976–1980 | Spokój (The Calm) | Banned under the Communist government for four years because the plot is about a strike.[408][Note 1] The film was finally shown on Polish television for the first time on 19 September 1980. In 1981, The Calm received the Polish Film Festival Special Jury Prize.[410][411] |
| 1976–1981 | Elementarz (The Primer) | Banned under the Communist government for its depiction of the Stalinist past. It was only released after the director, Wojciech Wiszniewski, died in 1981.[405] |
| 1977–1981 | Indeks. Życie i twórczość Józefa M. (The Index) | Banned under the Communist government for four years, because it depicted the 1968 protests.[412] |
| 1981 | Był Jazz (There was Jazz) | Banned by the Communist government.[412] |
| 1981 | Człowiek z żelaza (Man of Iron) | Banned under the Communist government for its political criticism and for depicting the labour union Solidarity.[412] |
| 1981 | Gorączka (Fever) | Banned by the Communist government, because of its brutally realistic portrayal of the occupying Soviet forces.[168][413] |
| 1981 | Jak żyć (How to Live) | Banned twice in one year by the Communist government.[412] |
| 1981 | Kobieta Samotna (A Lonely Woman) | Banned by the Communist government for its political criticism.[412] |
| 1981–1983 | Wojna światów – następne stulecie (The War of the Worlds: Next Century) | Banned under the Communist government for depicting a futuristic society which showed parallels with the political situation of Poland at that time. It remained banned until 1983.[405] |
| 1981–1984 | Wahadełko (Shilly Shally)[414] (Shilly Shally) | Banned under the Communist government for three years, because the story is set during the Stalinist era.[405] |
| 1981–1984 | Dreszcze (Shivers) | Banned by the Communist government. The film is a satirical story about a teenager imprisoned at an indoctrination camp.[415][416] |
| 1981–1987 | Wielki bieg (The Big Run, also translated as The Big Race) | Banned under the Communist government for six years for its political criticism.[417][418] |
| 1981–1987 | Blind Chance | Banned by the Communist government because of one storyline where Communism in Poland is overthrown.[419][420] |
| 1981–1988 | Kobieta Samotna (A Lonely Woman, also translated as A Woman Alone) | Banned under the Communist government for its political criticism.[412] It remained banned for seven years, until 1988.[417][418] |
| 1982–1987 | Matka Królów (The Mother of Kings) | Banned under the Communist government without even being released for its political criticism.[412] It remained banned for five years, until 1987.[417] |
| 1982–1989 | Przesłuchanie (Interrogation) | Banned under the Communist government for seven years because of its criticism of Communism. Despite the film's controversial initial reception and subsequent banning, it garnered a cult fanbase through the circulation of illegally taped VHS copies, which director Ryszard Bugajski secretly helped to leak out to the general public.[421][422][423] |
| 1983–1988 | Niedzielne igraszki (Sunday Pranks) | Banned under the Communist government for five years.[414][424] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Catch-22 | Banned under the Marcelo Caetano dictatorship for a scene depicting a character sitting naked in a tree,[348] though the fact that the film satirizes the military may also have been a factor. |
| 1972–1974 | Last Tango in Paris | Banned under Marcelo Caetano dictatorship for its strong sexual content. Ban lifted after the Carnation Revolution in 1974.[155] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Ben-Hur | Banned from all Arab League states because actress Haya Harareet was Israeli.[6] |
| 2006 | Borat | Banned in every Arab League country except Lebanon.[7] |
| 2014 | Noah | Banned for depicting the prophets.[38] |
| 2017 | Wonder Woman | Banned because it features Israeli actress Gal Gadot.[425] |
| 2020 | Onward | Banned due to the film's minor reference to a lesbian relationship. |
| 2021 | Eternals | Banned due to the film's character of Phastos and his husband.[39] |
| 2022 | Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness | Banned due to the film's gay character.[306] |
| 2022 | Lightyear | Banned due to a brief lesbian kiss scene.[40][41] |
| 2023 | Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – To the Swordsmith Village | The first Japanese film to be banned due to a scene's explicit nature where Mitsuri Kanroji, Love Hashira, takes a shower in the hot spring.[426] |
| 2023 | Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse | Banned due to it containing frames which feature a transgender flag on which the phrase "Protect Trans Kids" is displayed.[42] |
| 2023 | Barbie | No official announcement yet. Likely Banned due to undermining public morals.[427] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1981–1990 | Carnival Scenes | Banned from the personal order of Nicolae Ceaușescu due to violent content.[428][429] |
| 2008 | Saw IV | Banned upon release. Later reclassified and prohibited only to minors.[428] |
| 2009 | Milk | Banned upon release. Later reclassified and prohibited only to under-15s.[428] |
| 2014 | Nymphomaniac: Vol. II | Classified by the National Cinema Center's rating commission as a film "forbidden to minors under 18 and banned from public screening" due to explicit content.[430] After outrage at decision in mass media and on social networking websites, the commission allowed cinemas to run the film for audiences over 18.[428] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1936 | Prometheus | Banned in the Soviet Union for promoting Ukrainian nationalism.[431] |
| 1939–1990 | Gone with the Wind | Banned in the Soviet Union for unknown reasons.[432] |
| 1966 | Andrei Rublev | Banned in the Soviet Union for its themes of artistic freedom, religion, political ambiguity, autodidacticism, and the making of art under a repressive regime. Because of this, it was not released domestically for years after it was completed, except for a single 1966 screening in Moscow.[18][better source needed][433] |
| 1967–1987 | Commissar | Released September 1967. Banned for its depictions of Jews. The government saw Jews as a fifth column, covert Zionists and potential traitors to the Soviet Motherland, which became more pronounced after the Six-Day War. Representations of Jews in films were generally suppressed in this era. The ban was lifted in 1987.[434] |
| 1968–1987 | The Glass Harmonica | Banned by the Soviet government for its surrealist animation and perceived anti-authoritarian symbolism.[435] |
| 1968 | Brief Encounters | Banned by the Communist government.[413] |
| 1971 | The Long Farewell | Banned by the Communist government for its negative view of a mother-son relationship.[413] |
| 1972–1990 | The Godfather | Banned by the Communist government because it romanticized the criminal world. In 1990, the ban was lifted.[432] |
| 1977–1990 | All Star Wars movies | Banned by the Soviet government.[432] In 1990, the ban was lifted. |
| 1984 | Repentance | Banned for its semi-allegorical critique of Stalinism.[436][437] |
| 2006 | Borat | Banned for being "offensive".[438] |
| 2014 | The Interview | Banned to avoid political provocations.[439] |
| 2018 | The Death of Stalin | Banned by the Ministry of Culture for being offensive and extremist.[440] |
| 2019 | Jojo Rabbit | Banned for portraying Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in a comedic light.[441] |
| 2022 | The Green Elephant (1999) | Banned on 6 May 2022 for graphic violence.[442] |
| 2023 | Holy Spider | Released in Russian cinemas for a few days and was soon banned for reasons unclear. The Russian Ministry of Culture stated that the film "contain[ed] information whose dissemination is prohibited by the legislation of the Russian Federation." The director Ali Abbasi believes the ban was related to Iran's military support for Russia in the Russo-Ukrainian War.[443] |
| 2023 | Непосредственно Каха. Другой фильм (Directly Kakha. Another Movie) | Banned three months after the premiere due to rape excuse and victim blaming.[444] The movie was also removed from streaming services.[445] |
| 2023 | Barbie | Banned due to 'not corresponding to traditional values'[446] |
| 2023 | Oppenheimer | Banned due to 'not corresponding to traditional values'[446] |
| 2023 | Fairytale | Banned in Russia[447] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Angels & Demons | Banned due to the censor describing the film as "critical of the Catholic Church".[448] |
| 2006 | The Da Vinci Code | Banned outright after church leaders watching a pre-release showing filed a complaint with film censors.[449] (see Censorship in Samoa for details) [26] |
| 2009 | The Cell 2 | Banned due to violent content.[449] (see Censorship in Samoa for details) |
| 2009 | Milk | Banned, originally without being given a reason.[449] Later, it was explained that the censors deemed it "inappropriate and contradictory to Christian beliefs and Samoan culture": "In the movie itself it is trying to promote the human rights of gays." The sex scenes in particular were considered inappropriate by the Samoan Censor Board.[450] (see Censorship in Samoa for details) |
| 2009 | National Lampoon's Van Wilder: Freshman Year | Banned in 2009.[451] (See Censorship in Samoa for further details) |
| 2019 | Rocketman | Banned for its depictions of gay sex.[452] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Ben-Hur | Banned from all Arab League states because actress Haya Harareet was Israeli.[6] |
| 2001–2018 | All Harry Potter movies | Banned for alleged occultism and satanism propaganda.[453][454] In 2018, the ban was lifted. |
| 2004 | Fahrenheit 9/11 | Banned for being critical of the Iraq war and being an insult to Saudi Arabia's royal family.[299] |
| 2006 | Borat | Banned in every Arab League country except Lebanon.[7] |
| 2013 | King of the Sands | Banned for depicting the Saudi Arabia country founder Ibn Saud. |
| 2014 | Noah | Banned for depicting the prophets.[26] |
| 2020 | Onward | Banned due to the film's minor reference to a lesbian relationship. |
| 2021 | Bell Bottom | Banned for allegedly tampering with historical facts.[455][456] |
| 2021 | Eternals | Banned due to the film's character of Phastos and his husband.[39] |
| 2022 | West Side Story | Reportedly banned to the film's portrayal of a transgender character.[457] |
| 2022 | Lightyear | Banned due to a brief lesbian kiss scene.[40][41] |
| 2022 | Everything Everywhere All at Once | Banned due to the film's depiction of an openly gay character and a lesbian couple.[458] |
| 2022 | Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness | Banned due to the film's character America Chavez being a lesbian.[306] |
| 2022 | Sita Ramam | Unknown, likely banned for hurting religious sentiments.[459] |
| 2023 | Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – To the Swordsmith Village | The first Japanese film to be banned due to a scene's explicit nature where Mitsuri Kanroji, Love Hashira, takes a shower in the hot spring. The ban was lifted when Ufotable allows to censor the mentioned scene. [460] |
| 2023 | Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse | Banned due to it containing frames which feature a transgender flag on which the phrase "Protect Trans Kids" is displayed.[42] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Ceddo | Banned for its presentation of the conflicts between Islamic and Christian religions and ethnic and traditional beliefs.[10][461] According to another account reported in The New York Times in 1978, the banning was not "because of any religious sensitivity, but because Mr. Sembene insists on spelling 'ceddo' with two d's while the Senegalese Government insists it be spelled with one."[462] |
| 1988 | Camp de Thiaroye | Banned for criticizing the colonial system.[184] |
|
Main article: List of films banned in Singapore |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | The Da Vinci Code | Banned because Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare stated that the film "undermines the very roots of Christianity in Solomon Islands."[463] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Ben-Hur | Banned from all Arab League states because actress Haya Harareet was Israeli.[6] |
| 2006 | Borat | Banned in every Arab League country except Lebanon.[7] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1910 | The Johnson-Jeffries Fight | Banned because the footage depicted the black boxer Jack Johnson defeating the white boxer James J. Jeffries, which had already inspired race riots in the American South.[10] |
| 1964 | Zulu | Banned under the apartheid regime from screening to black South Africans, because it depicts a Zulu uprising in the 19th century. Whites were allowed to see it in their own segregated cinemas.[464] |
| 1971–1984 | A Clockwork Orange | Banned under the apartheid regime for 13 years, then released with one cut and only made available to people over the age of 21.[465] |
| 1978 | Up in Smoke | Banned under the apartheid regime because it "might encourage the impressionable youth of South Africa to take up marijuana smoking".[466] |
| 1978–1983 | Pretty Baby | Banned under the apartheid regime until 1983.[465] |
| 1979 | Monty Python's Life of Brian | Banned under the apartheid regime because of blasphemous content.[70] |
| 1980 | Cruising | Banned under the apartheid regime on its initial release.[25] |
| 1988 | Mapantsula | Banned under the apartheid regime for criticism of apartheid.[464] |
| 1995–1997 | Kids | Banned for two years and only unbanned in 1997 on appeal with a no-under 16 age restriction.[467] |
| 2013 | Of Good Report | Banned in the entire country because it has a storyline where older men abuse young girls, with scenes deemed "child pornography" according to the censors.[468] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1971 | A Clockwork Orange | Banned due to depictions of violence and gang rape. Has been lifted since.[155] |
| 1973 | Last Tango in Paris | Banned for its strong sexual content.[155] |
| 1975–1981 | Ban Geum-ryeon | Banned for six years, was released in South Korea with 40 minutes cut.[469] |
| 1979 | Apocalypse Now | Banned under South Korean President Park Chung Hee's regime, the importation of the film was on hold because of its anti-war theme.[470][failed verification] |
| 1992 | Braindead | Banned for gory violence.[471] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1927–1975 | Battleship Potemkin | Banned under the regime of Francisco Franco out of fear of inciting a Communist revolution.[8][143] |
| 1940 | El crucero Baleares (The Baleares cruiser) | This film revolving around the Francoist heavy cruiser Baleares was withheld from being premiered by order of the then Ministry of the Navy due to its poor cinematographic quality, granting only a private screening.[472] |
| 1956 | La bandera negra (The Black Flag) | First film of the filmmaker Amando de Ossorio, who later would be specialised in the horror genre. It was a plea against death penalty, which was then legal in Spain, with the performance of only one actor, José María Seoane. It was filmed without official authorisation, which was the reason why the censors fined it and submitted it to several cuts, eventually not making it to being distributed.[473] |
| 1957–1986 | Paths of Glory | Banned under Franco's regime for its "anti-military" themes.[18][474] |
| 1957 | Miracles of Thursday | This film revolves around a group of people from a forgotten town deciding to fake and represent a miracle, in order to attract tourism to their town. A screenplay by Luis García Berlanga, which resulted into him clashing with the Francoist censors. |
| 1960 | Psycho | The Francoist censors cut several shots from the scene of the shower murdering in order to hide Janet Leigh's body nudity. |
| 1960–1975 | La Dolce Vita | Banned under the regime of Francisco Franco.[475] |
| 1961–1977 | Viridiana | Banned under Franco's regime, although the Film Institute of Spain approved the film's submission to the Cannes Film Festival. After the Catholic Church expressed its indignation, the head of the Film Institute was fired and the film was banned for sixteen years.[476] |
| 1964 | El extraño viaje | Directed by Fernando Fernán Gómez, based on an idea from Luis García Berlanga, which was based on a real story of two brothers from Haro, La Rioja. The censorship gave this film the most restrictive rating, which did not even granted the right to debut, delaying approximately 5 years to have a minimal distribution.[477] |
| 1964 | Behold a Pale Horse | Banned under the regime of Francisco Franco.[478] According to director Fred Zinneman, the reason of the ban was due to the film's portrayal of the Spanish Civil Guard as "heavies".[479] |
| 1968 | Algo amargo en la boca (Something Bitter Tasting) | One of the first films of the later famed and polemic Eloy de la Iglesia, who saw how censorship provoked some alterations in the result.[480] |
| 1969 | The House That Screamed | Narciso Ibáñez Serrador's cinema debut suffered some cuts in its film imposed by the censors. These affected a sequence where the lesbianism of the characters was implied, as well as some plans taken in the showers scene. This material was not kept, although some still pictures taken during the filming.[481] In a 2002 DVD edition, the film was rated as Not recommended for people under 13 years.[482] |
| 1970 | Vampyros Lesbos | This film by Jesús Franco with a mostly German production crew, was butchered at the time by the Spanish censorship, which reduced it to a version lasting less than 80 minutes.[483] |
| 1972 | The Getaway | During the film's theatrical debut, the censorship imposed, a message after the films epilogue, that stated that the characters played by Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw were arrested in Mexico. This tag was removed in later home video versions and televised versions. |
| 1973 | Al otro lado del espejo (At the other side of the mirror) | This project by Jesús Franco was initially banned by the Ministry of Information and Tourism, eventually completed four years after.[484] Anyway, it debuted in Spain in an 80-minute-long cut, rendering the development moot,[485] which was something usual in Spain at the time of co-productions and double versions for the domestic market and the exports. |
| 1977 | ¿Y ahora qué, señor fiscal? (And now what, Mr. Prosecutor?) | This film is an adaptation by León Klimowsky from an original screenplay by Martín Vigil. The censors forced a change to the pre-production title, Orgasmo sobre una muerta (Orgasm over a Dead Woman), opting to retain the book's title.[486] |
| 1977 | ¡Votad, votad, malditos! (Vote, vote, you goddamn!) | This short film in the style of a documentary and a reportage about the pre-electoral climate in Barcelona during Spain's first elections after the fall of the Francoist regime, was banned for questioning the official reports of the Transition.[487] |
| 1979 | The Crime of Cuenca | Based on a real fact, the official organs banned the film reiteratingly for its depiction of the Civil Guard. Shown in some film festivals, It was not shown in commercial cinemas in Spain until 1981.[488] |
| 1980–1985 | Rocío | This documentary film was the first film to be seized by court order in Spain in 1981, due to the inclusion of testimonies from townsfolk from Almonte pointing José María Reales Carrasco,[489][490] the town's mayor during the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera and founder of the rociera brotherhood in Jerez de la Frontera (established in 1932 against the "contempt of the Virgin of El Rocío committed by the Second Spanish Republic"[491]), as responsible of the repression in the town, which ended with 100 killings (99 men and one woman[489]), which resulted into a lawsuit for libel, insult against the Catholic religion and slander filed by the sons of Reales against the director Fernando Ruiz Vergara. As a result, a trial court from Sevilla banned the showing of the tape on 8 April 1981 in Cádiz, Huelva and Sevilla, with the ban extending two months later. Ruiz Vergara was arrested for two months and had to pay 50.000 pesetas as a fine and a compensation of 10 million pesetas in concept of civil responsibility for serious insult against José María Reales, as well had to cut any scene mentioning him.[489] The film was unbanned in 1985 with said scenes cut.[492] |
| 1980 | The Exterminator | This film was rated "S" due to extreme violence,[493] this is an action film about revenge whose protagonist is a Vietnam War veteran. |
| 1981 | La Petición (The Engagement Party) | Banned initially, but finally released under media pressure to reconsider its artistic merit. The film is about a woman involved in sadistic and ultimately fatal sexual relationships with men.[116] |
| 2009 | Saw VI | Banned from regular, non-adult cinemas because of the "X" rating.[494][495] A cut version was released. |
| 2010 | A Serbian Film | Banned due to extreme violence (contains a lot of sexually violent content).[496] |
| 2010 | La mula | This film had its age rating suspended and the harmful qualification for the public was declared by the Ministry of Culture under the mandate of the Minister Ángeles González-Sinde and the PSOE government, which bans its screening. On 14 November 2012 came out the ruling through which the pretensions of the Ministry of Culture were unestimated. That same month, the ICAA issued the rating certification and granted the Spanish nationality to the film. |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1975 | Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom | Banned due to graphic violence and nudity.[26] |
| 2006 | Aksharaya (Letter of Fire) | Banned for dealing with issues of incest, murder, and rape.[497] |
| 2006 | The Da Vinci Code | Banned for religiously sensitive themes.[7] |
| 2021 | Carnal Monsters | Banned graphic nudity and violence. |
| 2021 | Necro Lesbians (Nekrology) | Banned for dealing with issues of necrophilia and rape. |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Ben-Hur | Banned from all Arab League states because actress Haya Harareet was Israeli.[6] |
| 2006 | Borat | Banned in every Arab League country except Lebanon.[7] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1969 | I Am Curious (Yellow) | Banned because of pornography, but after a court case it was allowed.[168] |
| 1974–2001 | The Texas Chain Saw Massacre | Banned due to high gore violence and cruelty.[155] Ban lifted in 2001. |
| 1981 | Mad Max | Banned because of violent content.[498] |
| 1983 | Hell of the Living Dead | [further explanation needed][499] Released uncut on DVD in the mid-2000s.[500] |
| 1984–2005 | Tenebre | Banned because of high impact scary violence. Re-released in an uncut version in 2005.[501] |
| 1985 | Return of the Living Dead | Although its status remains unclear(?)[further explanation needed] the first two sequels have been released on DVD.[502] |
| 1997 | Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation | Banned because of high impact scary violence and cruelty. Sony Pictures later released the film on DVD.[503][504] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1957–1970 | Paths of Glory | Banned for its critical depiction of the French army during World War I.[178] |
| 1968–1975 | Rondo | Banned for its critical look at the Swiss prison system, implying that for the Swiss incarceration as a form of punishment and means of deterrence is more important than integrating released prisoners back into society.[196] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Ben-Hur | Banned from all Arab League states because actress Haya Harareet was Israeli.[6] |
| 2006 | Borat | Banned in every Arab League country except Lebanon.[7] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | The Dictator | Banned because of subversiveness.[8] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | The Route | Banned because this documentary about human trafficking and sex slavery in Africa "showed too much sex and nudity" and thus was a "threat to Tanzanian culture."[295] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Boat People | Banned due it being filmed on Hainan, an island in China.[116][505] |
| 2015 | Love | Taiwan's Ministry of Culture refused to issue the Restricted rating in December 2015, citing article 9 of the 2015 regulations and article 235 of the Criminal Code.[506] After the distributor cut 170 seconds of close-ups on physical intimacy, including sexual intercourse, fingering, ejaculation, fellatio, and similar, the film was released in April 2016.[507] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1956 | The King and I (1956) | Banned because could be construed as disrespectful towards the King of Thailand.[508] |
| 1999 | Brokedown Palace | Banned because of its negative portrayal of Thailand with narcotics smuggling – especially with the views of the Thai judicial system despite parts of the film shot on location by the second unit (the majority of the film was filmed in the Philippines).[509] |
| 1999 | Anna and the King | Banned because could be construed as disrespectful towards the King of Thailand.[510] |
| 2007 | All the Boys Love Mandy Lane | Banned due to violence.[511] |
| 2007 | Halloween (2007 remake) | Banned due to depictions of violence.[511] |
| 2008 | Frontier(s) | Banned due to violence.[512] |
| 2008 | Funny Games | Banned due to cruelty and violence.[511] |
| 2009 | Zack and Miri Make a Porno | Banned by the Ministry of Culture due to sexual content (characters showing how to make their own pornographic video; teens may try to mimic).[513] |
| 2010 | Saw VI | Banned due to pro-Thaksin protests and violence in Thailand.[514] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Ben-Hur | Banned from all Arab League states because actress Haya Harareet was Israeli.[6] |
| 2006 | Borat | Banned in every Arab League country except Lebanon.[7] |
| 2017 | Wonder Woman | Banned because it features Israeli actress Gal Gadot.[515] |
| 2022 | Death on the Nile | Banned because it features the Israeli actress Gal Gadot. |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1969 | Bir Çirkin Adam (An Ugly Man) | Banned for its revelations of the social conditions in the country.[10] |
| 1979 | Yorgun Savaşçı (The Tired Warrior) | Banned because it was written by Kemal Tahir, who opposed the regime, and because the story casts doubt on the uniqueness of Kemal Atatürk's contribution to the struggle for the republic in the 1920s.[10] |
| 1987 | Su da Yanar (Water Also Burns) | Banned because it dealt with the banned communist poet Nâzım Hikmet.[10] |
| 1988 | The Last Temptation of Christ | Banned for blasphemic themes.[18][better source needed] |
| 2020 | Cuties | Banned because of imagery displaying child sexualization and exploitation.[516] |
| 2022 | Lightyear | Banned due to a brief lesbian kiss scene.[517] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1972–1979 | All foreign films | President Idi Amin banned all foreign films in 1972 on the grounds that they contained "imperialist propaganda".[518] |
| 2014 | The Wolf of Wall Street | Banned, like in most other African countries, due to its obscene content.[519] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Hostel | Banned because it depicts Eastern Europe as a region where people are tortured for money. Owning and viewing the movie in private is still legal.[520] |
| 2006 | Land of the Dead | Banned due to high level violence and blood and gore. The movie also depicts the suffering and the agony of people who were forced to eat human flesh in Kharkiv during the German attack there in 1943.[521] |
| 2007 | Hostel: Part II | Banned for the same reason as Hostel. Owning and viewing the movie in private is still legal.[522] |
| 2009 | Brüno | Banned for its homosexual themes.[523] |
| 2009 | Saw VI | Banned because of scenes of brutal gory violence and torture. In the context of the Saw franchise, this is the only part that is banned. Thereby it is illegal to sell or distribute it, since visa is not given.[524] |
| 2010 | My iz budushchego 2 (We Are from the Future 2) | This Russian film about four boys, two Russians and two Ukrainians, re-enacting the Lvov–Sandomierz offensive, ending in that timeline, , was banned in Ukraine for being Anti-Ukrainian, as it depictied the Ukrainian boys as "radical nationalists fighting only for the German side",[525] as well for its offensive depiction of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.[526] |
| 2013 | Evil Dead | Banned due to high level violence and blood, sexual content and gore.[citation needed] |
| 2018 | Hunter Killer | Banned because the Ukraine Ministry of Culture states that the film demonstrates "the might of the army of the aggressor country of Russia".[527] |
| 2020 | 8 First Dates | Banned by Ukraine's Cinema Agency because one of its actresses, Yekaterina Varnava, was blacklisted for five years for visiting Crimea during Russian occupation to attend a comedy show in 2016.[528] |
| 2023 | Machete | Banned because one of its co-stars, Steven Seagal, visited Crimea during the Russian occupation without permission from the Ukrainian authorities, causing him to be blacklisted from the country.[528] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Ben-Hur | Banned from all Arab League states because actress Haya Harareet was Israeli.[6] |
| 2005 | Brokeback Mountain | Banned because it depicts homosexual themes.[7] |
| 2006 | Borat | Banned in every Arab League country except Lebanon.[7] |
| 2010 | Lamhaa | Banned because of its "objectionable content"; it did not receive a clearance certificate from the UAE Censors Board and was pulled from all UAE cinemas. This is the first Bollywood film to be banned in the UAE.[529] |
| 2014 | Noah | Banned for depicting the prophets.[38] |
| 2015 | Fifty Shades of Grey | Banned due to its sexual content.[253][254] |
| 2022 | Lightyear | Banned due to a brief lesbian kiss scene.[40][41] |
| 2023 | Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – To the Swordsmith Village | The first Japanese film to be banned due to a scene's explicit nature where Mitsuri Kanroji, Love Hashira, takes a shower in the hot spring. The ban was lifted when Ufotable allows to censor the mentioned scene. [530] |
| 2023 | Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse | Banned due to it containing frames which feature a transgender flag on which the phrase "Protect Trans Kids" is displayed.[531][532][533] |
|
Main article: Film censorship in the United Kingdom |
|
Main article: List of films banned in the United States |
Generally speaking, the government itself cannot ban a film, since the United States Supreme Court ruled that films are protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution in a landmark 1950s decision. Instead of formal government censorship or bans, the film industry has, largely, policed itself through content-based ratings that are awarded to the vast majority of films that are to be publicly exhibited. Sometimes, a filmmaker may make edits to a film to avoid an 'R-rating' or an 'NC-17' rating, but a modern-day, government ban on a film would likely be struck down the courts.
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1973 | State of Siege | [10] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | The Da Vinci Code | Banned because it was deemed inaccurate and offensive to Christians.[7] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Last Tango in Paris | Banned for its strong sexual content during the first presidency of Rafael Caldera.[534][535] |
| 1981 | Ledezma, el caso Mamera | Banned for exposing state corruption, as well as accused of being an apology for crime, and the director imprisoned;[536] courts overturned both decisions.[537] |
| 2016 | El Inca | Pulled from cinemas and banned after a family injunction over the representation in the biopic; reportedly the first time a Venezuelan film has been banned in its country in 25 years.[538][539][failed verification] After being banned, the film was selected as Venezuela's representative as Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards, a controversial choice.[540] |
| 2019 | Infection | Not screened, reportedly for presenting Chavist ideology in a negative light.[541] The production cooperated with the CNAC over 9 months to try and get it shown, but the film was still eventually banned;[542] the CNAC's former chairman called the move censorship.[543] The film's director, Flavio Pedota, lives in exile.[543] |
| 2019 | Chavismo: The Plague of the 21st Century | Documentary; Banned from being shown in public and at universities for supposedly inciting hate; director Gustavo Tovar-Arroyo lives in exile from the country.[544] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Xich lo (Cyclo) | Banned for being too "westernised" in its portrayal of urban poverty in the country. [further explanation needed][26][545] |
| 2001 | Green Dragon | Banned as of 2002.[546] |
| 2002 | We Were Soldiers | Banned as of 2002.[546] |
| 2010 | Sex and the City 2 | Banned because of a conflict of "cultural values".[547] |
| 2012 | The Hunger Games | Banned because of extreme violence and killing.[548][549] |
| 2012 | The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo | Banned because its international distributor, Sony Pictures, did not accept the requirement by the Vietnamese National Film Board of cutting out some sensitive scenes.[550] |
| 2019 | Abominable | Taken out of cinemas over a scene showing the nine-dash line that is used by the People's Republic of China to lay claim to parts of the South China Sea.[551] |
| 2021 | Taste | Banned because of a conflict of "culture values" [552] |
| 2022 | Uncharted | Banned because of a scene showing the nine-dash line that is used by the People's Republic of China to lay claim to parts of the South China Sea.[553] |
| 2022 | The Roundup | Banned because of "violent scenes" and negative portrayal of Ho Chi Minh City in the movie.[554] |
| 2023 | John Wick: Chapter 4 | Unofficially banned because of the appearance of Donnie Yen, who supports the nine-dash line that is used by the People's Republic of China to lay claim to parts of the South China Sea. |
| 2023 | Barbie | Banned from cinemas because one of its scenes shows maps allegedly featuring the nine-dash line that is used by the People's Republic of China to lay claim to parts of the South China Sea;[555] the Tien Phong newspaper reported that the map appears multiple times throughout the film.[556][557] The claims were defended by Warner Bros., the film's distributor, who issued a statement saying that the map was a 'child-like crayon drawing' and that it was 'not intended to make any statement' [558] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Ben-Hur | Banned from all Arab League states because actress Haya Harareet was Israeli.[6] |
| 2006 | Borat | Banned in every Arab League country except Lebanon.[7] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1937 | La Grande Illusion | Banned in 1937 for its anti-war message.[207] |
| 1952–1977 | Ciguli Miguli | Banned under the regime of Josip Broz Tito for its satire of socialist bureaucracy. Issued a license for public showing only in 1977.[559] |
| 1971–1987 | W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism | Banned under the regime of Josip Broz Tito and seven years after his death in 1980.[18][better source needed][560][561] |
| Date | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Jock of the Bushveld | Banned because of its South African origins. At the time Zimbabwe boycotted South African products because of its apartheid regime.[464] |
| 2010 | Lobola | Concerned with the custom of lobola, the film was banned because it "doesn't really portray African custom when it comes to marriage, since one does not get married while drunk." Another objection is a scene where a young couple kisses in front of their parents, as well as the "abrupt ending".[562] |
| 2014 | Kumasowe | Banned because it depicts violent clashes between members of an apostolic sect in the country and Zimbabwe Republic police officers.[563] |
| 2015 | Fifty Shades of Grey | Banned because of the explicit erotic scenes. In some theaters an edited version was allowed.[564] |
