Here's Why This Filmmaker Made The British Film Board Watch Paint Dry

"Sticking it to the man" is alive and well, thanks to British filmmaker Charlie Lyne.

To raise awareness about the unfair cost of getting an independent film released in the UK, Lyne crowdfunded the money to make a special film the British Film Board would have to watch: 607 minutes of white paint drying.

That's over 10 hours. Of drying paint.

The poor souls at the British Board of Film Classification had to watch every second of the film, "Paint Drying," in order to come up with a proper rating. And because they were all at work, it's very unlikely they had any hallucinogenics to aid them.

Lyne hopes to make a statement with this film, stressing the undue strains independent artists face in order to make their work publicly visible. For Lyne's film, it cost £6,000 (just under $8600) in fees to get the BBFC -- the British equivalent of the Motion Picture Association of America -- to rate the movie before it can be widely released.

So what did they end up rating the monumentally anti-climatic film? A "U" for “no material likely to offend or harm." Although, I have to say there are some metaphors to be made about the fact it was white paint drying.

Maybe Lyne could arrange an advanced screening of the film for the Academy.

Citations: A filmmaker trolled the British film board with an unbelievably long movie of paint drying (The Washington Post)