"It's a horror movie, pure and simple"

The debate is on regarding last week's decision by a Barcelona judge to investigate the director of the Sitges Film Festival for allowing two late-night screenings of A Serbian Film - which shows simulated sex scenes with children - at the last edition of the event. As the social networks rail against what they consider a form of censorship, the cultural world argues that you can't put restrictions on creative freedom. Abuse victims associations, meanwhile, say that not everything goes; not even in fiction.

Under Article 189 of the Penal Code, Sitges head Ángel Sala faces a prison sentence of up to three months for exhibiting pornographic material, regardless of whether or not it directly involves minors.

Writer and film critic Jesús Palacios thinks the law should not equate the simulation of a crime - in this case sexual aggression against minors - with the crime itself. The two controversial scenes in the film - one that depicts a newborn baby being raped and another showing sex with a five-year-old boy - are "ridiculous," he says, and shown "in a distorted way." It's not a pornographic film, he argues, but rather a horror film with some shots depicting extreme violence.

Josemi Beltrán, the new director of the San Sebastián Horror and Fantasy Film Festival, which was banned from showing the film by a court last November, agrees. "It's a horror movie, pure and simple," he says. Although the film is "unpleasant and aesthetically questionable," he continues, the problem is not about director Srdjan Spasojevic's lack of skill, but rather one of artistic freedom and the necessity of imposing limits. "The creation can be better or worse, but you have to be able to tackle all themes."

Although Jaume Balagueró, co-director of horror film REC, hasn't seen the movie, and "would never see it," he says the investigation of Sala "makes Spain look ridiculous." A Serbian Film has been shown at a dozen international festivals and picked up prizes at events in Porto, Serbia and Montreal.

The worry is that lawsuits such as the one brought by the child-protection association that led to Sala's investigation could drive cultural programmers to a kind of self-censorship. "They'll think a little more when confronted with a radical piece of cinema, because of the possible legal consequences," says Palacios.

"The content of the film seems totally excessive to us," says Guillermo Cánovas of the anti-child pornography NGO Protégeles. "These images hurt people. [...] And it doesn't matter whether it's a real image or a simulated one, the important thing is the impact it has."

"Aside from this," he adds, "we are not sure if the object of this film is to raise awareness."