Orgy film gets UK certificate

A controversial film depicting a teenage orgy and a virgin being coerced into sex has been given the all clear by the British Board of Film Classification.

Kids, due to go on release in Britain this spring, outraged parents' groups in the US because of its allegedly amoral attitude to under-age sex, drug taking and alcohol abuse.

The film, which has been given an 18 certificate, opens with a boy "French kissing" a young looking girl. The film, directed by Larry Clark, ends with an all-night orgy where four youngsters smoke cannabis. A young virgin is then persuaded to have sex with one of the film's leading male characters.

The BBFC cut Kids by just under a minute prior to granting a certificate.

In the US Kids was refused a general certificate and restricted to specialist cinemas.

After four months' deliberation the BBFC said last night: "All the relevant tests of British law have been applied, and expert advice taken ... In America it was described by the New York Times as a 'wake-up call to parents'. That is the view formed of it by the Board."