
CONTACTAbout UsCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2025 Equal Entertainment LLC.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
We need your help
Your support makes The Advocate's original LGBTQ+ reporting possible. Become a member today to help us continue this work.
Your support makes The Advocate's original LGBTQ+ reporting possible. Become a member today to help us continue this work.
The director of the Melbourne Underground Film Festival was fined $750 for an illegal screening of Bruce LaBruce's avant-garde horror film LA Zombie.
Richard Wolstencroft was sentenced to pay the sum to the Royal Children's Hospital as punishment for screening the film, starring gay porn model Francois Sagat (pictured), in defiance of the Australian government's film classification board. The film was initially slated to be screened at the festival in July 2010, but Classification Australia refused to grant classification to the film, making it illegal to screen publicly in Australia.
Rejecting the prohibition, Wolstencroft held a screening, which he called a "public disobedience freedom of speech event," on August 29. In November, police raided his home and threatened to confiscate every DVD and computer in the home until they were satisfied with his claim that he destroyed the only DVD copy he had.
"I am giving some serious thought to holding the next MUFF in exile," he said.
The maximum penalty for the illegal screening was two years in jail or a $28,668 fine. To defray his legal costs, Wolstencroft is holding a fundraising screening of director Bruce LaBruce's documentary The Advocate of Fagdom. This time, it's all legal.
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
Watch Now: Pride Today
Latest Stories
Celebrated queer poet Andrea Gibson dead at 49
July 14 2025 6:25 PM
19 photos from 1990s San Francisco show the roots of butch and femme culture
July 14 2025 2:12 PM
Ellen DeGeneres shows unexpected support for Rosie O'Donnell in Trump feud
July 14 2025 12:19 PM