Irony overload: MPAA ratings board finds docu about itself so shocking, it rates it NC-17

Um…what censorship?

So, IFC hires Oscar-nomminated documentarian Kirby Dick and producer Eddie Schmidt, to produce an original documentary that digs into the mysterious coven that is the MPAA ratings board — an anonymous group responsible for classifying films for the MPAA from the perspective of “the average American parent.”

The pair does so, and, like any filmmakers, submits their movie to the MPAA for a rating.

Result? On November 30th, the MPAA asigns their doc, (ironically entitled “This Film Is Not Yet Rated”) an NC-17 rating – which means that most theater chains won’t show it, newspapers and TV stations won’t advertise it and video chains won’t stock it. (There’ve only been two films released with an NC-17 rating in the last seven years: Doc “Inside Deep Throat” and Bernardo Bertolucci‘s “The Dreamers”.)

The good news? The Sundance Film Festival has just accepted it to screen this winter in Park City, which is the only way you can see it before it premieres on IFC next fall. Additional details are on IFC’s Captain’s Blog.

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