BAFTA pulls disability film from international festival

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) faces allegations of discimination after it pulled "The Last American Freak Show" from X'08, the eighth London International Disability Film Festival, which is Feb. 18.

According to a Feb. 8 story in the The Independent, "the film was shot one-handed by the director Richard Butchins, whose arm was paralysed by polio as a child. It is a stark look at disabled people who flaunt their conditions. Filmed over six weeks and following six disabled and four non-disabled people who made up a carnival touring the US, it shows the individuals 'perform' in bars and theatres."

The "head of events at Bafta and the person responsible for the decision, [told] me that the 'aesthetic' of the film was wrong, that it was too explicit, raised too many questions and was too demanding for the event in question," Butchins said in The Independent.

The film was replaced in the film festival by "Lars and the Real Girl," a 2007 film about a delusional young man who begins a relationship with a life-size blow-up doll.

Here's a clip of "The Last American Freak Show" on YouTube.