Authorisation to show a film

It is also a council's responsibility to make sure all films shown to the public have been authorised, either by British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) or by the council's licensing authority.

In addition to authorising films that haven't been classified by the BBFC (generally for festivals or one off screenings), the Licensing Authority is able to apply different age restrictions to films already classified by the BBFC for local screening. Requests for reclassification can either be made by the distributor of a film or an independent member of the public.