Margaret Pomeranz v the police: how Australian film standards – and censors – limit what we watch

‘It was all a bit of a farce really’: police shut down a screening of Larry Clark’s Ken Park, hosted by Margaret Pomeranz in 2003. The Australian Classification Board had refused to classify the film because of its graphic sexual content. Photograph: EPA

How many cops does it take to turn off a DVD? Twenty years ago, Sydney police raided Balmain town hall to do exactly that – ending up in a standoff with revered film critic Margaret Pomeranz.

It was to a chorus of boos that two New South Wales law enforcement officers strode across the stage on 3 July 2003, as the opening credits rolled on Larry Clark’s banned picture Ken Park. The film, which had been refused classification in Australia because of its graphic sexual content, was being screened in protest by Pomeranz. The police superintendent shook her hand and explained they’d come to apprehend it.