Shades of Superb Owl XLIII: French TV Shows Hardcore Trailer

PARIS, France—The 64th annual Berlin Film Festival kicked off last week, and the stars certainly came out for it, including Jennifer Connolly, Tilda Swinton, Diane Kruger, Bill Murray, Ralph Fiennes, Edward Norton, George Clooney and Shia LaBoeuf, to name just a few. LaBoeuf was there ostensibly to promote his starring role in Lars Von Trier's Nymphomaniac, but walked out of a press conference held to discuss the film, saying as he exited, “When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea. Thank you very much.” He also walked the festival's red carpet wearing a paper bag on which was scrawled, "I am not famous any more." And French news channel I-tele was there to cover it all. Trouble was, when I-tele, which is described as a "free-to-air news channel," got its footage back to the studio and broadcast its story, it added a little something extra to the mix: a hardcore trailer from Nymphomaniac rather than the softer one it had apparently intended to show. The aired trailer included explicit footage of a woman giving a man a blowjob. A cleaner (but still sexy) trailer from Nymphomaniac can be found here. Needless to say, station management delivered an immediate on-air apology for the gaffe, but considering that it's illegal in France to show hardcore sex during the day, there may be more repercussions yet to come. According to an article published today on the TheLocal.fr website, "Pornographic material can only be shown on TV with prior official approval from authorities and then only at night and of a limited quantity. "France’s official censor the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel [CSA] could take action, but they can only look into matter if there has been a complaint," the article continued. "When contacted by The Local, CSA said it would look into whether anyone was upset enough by the trailer to phone in and gripe. No word from the censors yet." Hopefully, I-tele's producers won't face the same fate as Frank Tanori Gonzales, a former Cox Communications employee who managed to insert about 30 seconds of hardcore footage of Evan Stone and Tristan Kingsley into the 2009 Superb Owl broadcast, causing a scandal that lasted for months until the culprit was tracked down and arrested. Pictured: A scene from Nymphomaniac, Part I