Independent Filmmakers Cooperative of Ottawa - Controversy

Controversy

IFCO was involved in a brief controversy in 2004 when its selection committee chose to grant $1000 to fund a film by Ken Takahashi. The film, to be entitled Last Night With Jesse, was to involve a sexual relationship between an adolescent boy and an older man. When word of the grant and the film subject got out following an article by Susannah Sears, a freelancer, who creates crossword puzzles for the Ottawa Citizen, there was quick criticism of public money funding a film "promoting pedophilia". With city councillors threatening to withdraw city funding and Ontario's Minister of Culture saying that she was "uncomfortable with government funding for any film that depicts a sexual relationship between an adult and a child", the IFCO's board quickly quashed the grant citing concerns about the legality of the film. The IFCO board stated that Takahashi couldn't confirm whether he planned to use a minor as an actor and therefore could contravene a bill, which became federal law July 20, 2005, that eliminates artistic merit as a defense for those accused of making child pornography.

Takahashi said the issue was "blown out of proportion" and that his movie would not have contained any graphic depictions of sexual relations between a minor and an adult. He described his film as a coming of age story about "a relationship between an older man and an individual coming into sexual maturation". IFCO denied that the public outcry or threats of funding losses played any part in the decision and that they would have likely funded the film with a reassurance from Takahashi that a person of the age of majority would play the part.