FED: People offended by Lolita should appeal: Howard

AAP General News (Australia)
04-01-1999
FED: People offended by Lolita should appeal: Howard

CANBERRA, April 1 AAP -Prime Minister John Howard today said people concerned about the
controversial movie Lolita should appeal the film's censorship classification.

A special Parliament House screening of Lolita last night confirmed the views of coalition
MPs that the controversial film should be banned.

Mr Howard said he did not attend the screening as he was busy elsewhere.

But he said there were still avenues open to those who would like the film banned.

"My view is that people who are concerned about it should exercise the appeal mechanism
under the classification process," he told Adelaide Radio 5DN.

"I do not want a return to a more censorious Australia."

"On the other hand, with something like paedophilia, there is a heightened public
sensibility about it," he said.

Lolita has been screened in 19 countries including Britain, Russia, France and Germany, and
despite being slow to get a distribution deal in the US, premiered on cable television.

It opens at Australian cinemas on April 15.

The movie tells the tale of a school teacher obsessed with his teenage stepdaughter in the
latest adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel.

AAP rft/pa

KEYWORD: LOLITA HOWARD

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