Film director Ken Kwek says that his debut movie will probably get its first screening in Singapore early this year after it was re-edited to appease the island state’s censors.
Sex.Violence.FamilyValues, made up of three shorts, explores dysfunctional families, racism and promiscuity.
A scene in one short, Porn Masala, shows an ethnic Chinese pornography director racially insulting an Indian actor - enough for Singapore’s Media Development Authority (MDA) to ban the movie.
Mr Kwek and the film’s producer, Tay Eu-Yen, wrote a 500-page appeal to the censors and on Friday last week Singapore’s Films Appeals Committee said the movie could be shown with an R21 rating.
That means members of the audience must be aged 21 or over, a hike from the original M18 rating.
“I feel the relief of a man who has survived a minor stabbing,” Mr Kwek told The Wall Street Journal.
“No major long-term disabilities. But damn it still hurts.”