Decades before the existence of the MPAA and an implemented rating system, the United States had censors. At least seven states and dozens of cities across the country empowered government-employed censor boards to injudiciously cut films prior to their exhibition or even outright ban them. Sickies Making Films uses the nation's longest surviving censor board as a window into the tangled history of American movie censorship.

The film explores the question of why film censorship happens and the politics and prejudices involved by using several classic examples as case studies. Ranging from understandable to highly absurd, films were chopped or blocked due to things like unacceptable violence, language, or sexuality. Government appointed censor boards literally shaped the films their regional audiences could access.

One such strong willed personality, Mary Avara, made herself known as part of the Maryland State Board of Censors, the longest running censor board in the country. Avara became one of the last censors standing and became somewhat of a fixture on late night television in part to her very public clashes with fellow Marylander John Waters.

A love letter to the movies, Sickies Making Films -- which is a direct quote from Avara herself -- crafts a hilarious yet informative tale examining the recurring problem of censorship in the United States.
85 minutes, Ages 18+

Director/Producer/Writer Joe Tropea currently works at the Maryland Historical Society where he is the Curator of Films and Photographs. He is also a co-founder of the Preserve the Baltimore Uprising Archive Project.+

OFFICIAL SELECTION
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival
Sidewalk Film Festival
Maryland Film Festival
NHDocs
Thin Line
SF DocFest
Film Invasion Los Angeles
Revelation Perth International Film Festival
Sydney Underground Film Fest

Starring: Mary Avara / John Waters / Hedy Lemarr / Egbert Quinn
Director: Joe Tropea
Rated: NR
Studio: Haricot Vert Films
Size: 5.5  x 7.5
Notes: 84 mins., DVD
Release Date: 2018

Sickies Making Films Trailer - Censored from Haricot Vert Films on Vimeo.