Melbourne Underground Film Festival director Richard Wolstencroft has been charged by the local police force for screening Bruce LaBruce's hardcore splatter flick, LA Zombie.

Wolstencroft screened the film last August, despite a ban by the country's classification board. Shortly after the screening, his home was raided by police looking for copies of the film.

Yesterday Wolsten responded to the charges in a press release:

“It is unfortunate that the year has begun with charges being laid against me and MUFF in relation to the screening of LA Zombie at the close of last year’s successful festival,” Wolstencroft said, defending his decision to screen the film on anti-censorship grounds.

“LA Zombie is a film made by a well-renowned and established queer filmmaker, Bruce LaBruce, who has had his work played at a number of established film festivals all over the world.”

“Our only intention was to play this important work of cinematic art to an appreciative adult audience after its screening was cancelled by the Melbourne International Film Festival due the OFLC’s absurd decision not to grant it exemption to screen.”

“We strongly reject the decision of the OFLC in this matter, considering it totally inappropriate and out of touch with community standards. Our screening at MUFF 11 went ahead and was a great success.”

An edited version of LA Zombie screened at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.

Toronto gay filmmaker Bruce LaBruce recently told Xtra that Australia's decision to ban his film LA Zombie was a good thing: "Once you do this, you've guaranteed that people will want to see it."

And now it seems that a few Aussies might have a chance to see the film at a secret screening: 

Richard Wolstencroft, director of the Melbourne Underground Film Festival, yesterday announced his intention to stage a ''public disobedience freedom of speech event'' on Aug 29.

''I've got Bruce LaBruce's support,'' he said. ''If the police turn up and physically stop me, what can I do? But they really hate coming to this sort of thing, they're embarrassed.'' 

From the event's Facebook page:

MUFF wishes to preserve artistic freedom, particularly for alternative or subversive cinema such as LA Zombie. The festival’s firm view is that adult audiences are capable of contextualizing confronting cinema, and should have the right to see adult films. 

Watch the LA Zombie trailer below: 

Canadian filmmaker Bruce LaBruce spoke to The Varsity about his upcoming film LA Zombie and gay assimilation. A snippet from that piece:

The Varsity: I tend to associate the gay community with liberal politics. Could you explain “arch-conservative”?

Bruce LaBruce: Well, for me, when a movement starts to become fixated on becoming accepted by the two most conservative institutions in America — marriage and the military — you can pretty much safely say it’s become a conservative movement. It’s not only that they want equal rights: they are ideologically becoming conservative in terms of promoting monogamy and becoming complicit with the ideals of a militarized society.

Read the full piece at thevarsity.ca

Behind-the-scenes of LaBruce's new film LA Zombie. See more pics at lazombie.com

Read more on Xtra.ca:

• Bruce LaBruce's tender zombie sex flick
• Bruce LaBruce on queer content at Sundance 
• Queerly provocative: Bruce LaBruce fucks up the bourgeoisie