The Catholic League is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate whether the makers of the controversial 2007 Sundance Film Festival entry "Hounddog" - in which a character played by 12-year-old actress Dakota Fanning is raped - violated federal child-pornography laws.

"It matters not a whit whether Fanning's mother, along with Fanning's teacher/child welfare worker, gave their consent," said Catholic League president William Donohue in a statement. "What matters is whether they are an accessory to a crime."

Donohue has asked Andrew Oosterbaan, who runs the Justice department's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, to investigate. He also has sent a letter to First Lady Laura Bush requesting her help.

Donohue has not seen the film. Neither have the festivalgoers in Park City, as the movie does not debut until Monday night.

At issue is a scene in which Fanning's character, an Elvis-loving Southern child in the 1950s, is raped by an older boy. The scene brought protests when the movie was being filmed in Wilmington, N.C., last summer -- though, according to The New York Times, a Wilmington prosecutor saw a cut of the film and decided no child-pornography laws were broken and Kampmeier treated Fanning "more than appropriately."

"I have to say I have started to feel very sorry for these people who are out to silence this," the film's writer-director, Deborah Kampmeier, told The Los Angeles Times. "These are really wounded people, just like the characters in the film."


-- Sean P. Means