Support for: The Video Nasties Retrospective.

I, Tim Porter have been organizing an retrospective, dedicated to an important time period in Horror Cinema & British Film History. The Video Nasties (as they were named by the press) created a mass of moral outcry. These movies were released on a new technological device that could be used at home: The VHS Player.

Videos were un-certified and figures such as Mary Whitehouse and the Conservative government decided to draw up a list of titles to seize and prosecute these movies as they were deemed evil and repugnant. This caused a ripple effect with the British Board Of Film Classification (BBFC), as similar films were heavily censored.

This retrospective focuses on the events of the 1980's. I plan to screen 16 of the so-called nasties. These screenings will include special guests ranging from film critics, filmmakers and academics. We plan to debate and discuss in a broad context the impact that this time period has made, whether the films were as harmful as first thought and a general discussion on censorship. We will also highlight recent films such as: A Serbian Film (2010) as a prime companion to the response from the media and censors about the film's content.

These screenings are proposed to go ahead at the University of Westminster: Harrow Campus. I am asking for your support as the university are hesitant about the event. This petition is to show the interest and a possible idea on audience numbers this event will attract.