'The Showerhead' doccie on cartoonist Zapiro slapped with 16LNPSV rating
'It's like a throwback to the seventies' - John Maytham interviews renowned cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro.
Cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro - Zapiro. Image: Wikimedia Commons/Bengt Oberger
A documentary titled The Showerhead which showcases the work of renowned cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro - Zapiro, has received a rating of 16LNPSV from the Film and Publication Board (FPB).
It chronicles Zapiro's career as the political landscape changed in South Africa and his ongoing feud with Jacob Zuma.
The political cartoonist started drawing a showerhead clamped to the former president's head following Zuma's 2006 rape trial.
The 6LNPSV rating means that The Showerhead contains occurrences of moderate and possibly strong impact sexual activity, strong offensive language, nudity, prejudice, sex and violence
The doccie premiered at the Durban Film Festival over the weekend, and the rating comes ahead of its cinema release in September.
Shapiro and filmmaker Anant Singh (Videovision Entertainment) are appealing the rating.
In conversation with John Maytham, Shapiro says the FPB decision feels like a throwback to the seventies with the old censorship board.
Shapiro is confident that their appeal will be successful.
"I'm as nonplussed as you are, but let's say for example that.... our appeal succeeds and they give a 13PG, all of us involved in the movie could live with that."
"But when it comes to high school students, can you imagine they would be somehow be impaired by seeing a drawing of a penis on top of the Union Buildings or something like that, as if they don't know what that means in this day and age..."
Jonathan Shapiro/Zapiro, Political Cartoonist
Shapiro quotes a line from the FPB ruling, which he says he finds 'amazing':
'Younger children may be morally harmed based on the presentation of the antagonist Jacob Zuma and how he's depicted as corrupt and degenerate; this may impact negatively to younger sensitive viewers who still rely heavily on social norms...'
"I'm perfectly happy with their interpretation of what I've said about Zuma, but what is more harmful to young children - to have a piece of satire saying this, or to see actual politicians running around being corrupt and degenerate? That to me is a fundamental misunderstanding of what a documentary is and what young people are capable of discussing."
Jonathan Shapiro/Zapiro, Political Cartoonist
Shapiro notes that he's been sued by Zuma twice, and in both cases the charges had to be dropped.
"So where they think it's biased or prejudiced against Zuma, it's not defaming him because he couldn't make any charges stick... He's done these things and been held to account by important judicial processes in South Africa."
Jonathan Shapiro/Zapiro, Political Cartoonist
Shapiro also points out the irony of the ruling in terms of the fact that his cartoons are actually often used in exam questions and for discussion in our schools.
Scroll up to listen to the conversation and watch the trailer for The Showerhead below