The Hollywood Reporter has the story:In a major victory for filmmaker Julian Schnabel and producer Jon Kilik, the ratings appeals board has overturned the R-rating for Miral, about a 17-year-old Palestinian girl caught up in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Miral will now go out with a PG-13 rating. The Weinstein Co., which also was victorious in getting the NC-17 rating for Blue Valentine overturned, opens the film in select theaters on March 25.
Schnabel has always said he made the movie with hope of sparking a dialogue among young people about Israeli/Palestinian relations, and that an R-rating would have precluded that very audience from seeing the film.
At a hearing in Los Angeles on Thursday morning, Schnabel and Kilik argued their case before the Classification and Ratings Administration's appeals board after all watching the movie together.
Miral had been rated R for "some violent content, including a sexual assault." In overturning the R-rating, the appeals board said Miral is now rated PG-13 for "thematic appeal, and some violent content inlcuding a sexual assault."
Miral was penned by Palestinian journalist Rula Jabreal, based on her semi-autobiographical novel of the same name.
-Joey's Two Cents: I'm glad the appeals board is open to this sort of thing, as it's beneficial to everyone involved...thoughts?
I'm not sure the film is good enough for awards consideration (going by the festival reviews), but it helps to raise the profile of the flick...
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