VENICE, Italy (AP) – Oscar-winning director Bernardo Bertolucci is worried that his sexually explicit new film “The Dreamers” might be cut in the United States out of concern it is too graphic for American audiences.

The film, presented Monday at the Venice Film Festival, is about three college students in 1968 Paris who engage in a claustrophobic love affair.

Bertolucci said his U.S. distributor, Fox Searchlight, is concerned the film may get the dreaded NC-17 rating, which is the equivalent of an X-rating and typically reduces audiences considerably.

“The film risks coming out in the United States amputated and mutilated,” the Italian director said. “Perhaps someone thinks that the U.S. public is too immature to see this.”

The American co-star, Michael Pitt, said explicit shots – including his full-frontal nudity – shouldn’t be an issue. He argued that U.S. viewers would not be offended by the movie.

“They’re not going to be given the opportunity to be offended, which I’m offended by,” he said. “What they’re afraid of is that the youth would accept it if given the opportunity.”

Youth is at the center of “The Dreamers.” The film may appeal most to the 1960s protest generation but Bertolucci said the work was aimed at today’s young.

“I asked myself, ‘Why not tell this story to the kids of today, whose parents have censored this period because they consider it a failure?”‘ Bertolucci said.

The director, whose 1986 film “The Last Emperor” won nine Oscars, has faced controversy before over sexually charged films. His 1972 work “Last Tango in Paris,” starring Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider, initially had distribution trouble and ended up a critical success.

Also Monday, the makers of “Imagining Argentina,” starring Antonio Banderas and Emma Thompson, had the task of defending their film after one of the worst receptions yet at the festival.

The film, which was loudly booed during the press screening, deals with Argentina’s 1976-83 military dictatorship, when authorities tortured and murdered thousands of people.

Director Christopher Hampton said that above all the aim is to educate people about this appalling period in Argentina.

“Whatever people think about the film, people need to talk about this issue,” he said. “This is a wound, and if you deal with an open wound, people are going to react in a very tender fashion, so it’s not surprising.”

Thompson said some audiences like the film.

“I think there was always going to be a great deal of different kinds of responses,” she said. “When you’re dealing with a subject that is so tricky, such as state-sponsored torture, and mixing it with magical realism, you’re stepping a fine line.”

Also Monday, the Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis was being honored with a Golden Lion award for career achievement. Among his numerous films, De Laurentiis produced Federico Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita” (1960); Sidney Lumet’s “Serpico” (1973); and Ridley Scott’s “Hannibal” (2001).

Films competing for the festival’s Golden Lion for best film included “Zatoichi” by director Takeshi Kitano; “Floating Landscape” by Carol Lai Miu Suet; and “Code 46” by Michael Winterbottom. Awards are handed out at the end of the 11-day festival on Saturday.

AP-ES-09-01-03 1455EDT

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