Cannes challenges Beijing film censors

Source: Earth Times

Chinese director Lou Ye appears unperturbed about the reaction from Beijing to his latest movie, which delves into subjects the nation's heavy-handed censors prefer to keep out of the country's cinema. He shot the film despite an official ban on him making films.

Clandestinely filmed in the provincial Chinese metropolis of Nanjing, Lou's Spring Fever, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, is a movie about desire that revolves around a passionate affair between a married man and his more openly gay lover.

By portraying graphic gay lovemaking in his film, Lou directly confronts the rather prudish standards set by the Chinese authorities, who see homosexuality and sexual obsession as essentially taboo subjects for the nation's filmmakers.

"I hope that nothing will happen when I get back to China," Lou told a press conference Thursday marking the film's screening in Cannes. "I'm just a filmmaker. I always say: don't be afraid of the cinema."

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I like the quote where he says "I hope I'm the last director banned in China." Not sure that day will ever come. China's been banning any movie it doesn't like forever. It was magnified when mainland Chinese movies because more popular with Zhang Yimou's early movies. Many of them, including Ju Dou, were banned at the time as well.

Related: Chinese director Lou Ye braves ban risk at Cannes