Censorship plagues Chinese film

Nudity, graphic sex and politics in films may be passe in France, especially here at the world’s best-known film festival, but a film about young lovers in Beijing set against the backdrop of China’s 1989 crackdown on democracy demonstrators is causing controversy with Chinese censors.

The film “Summer Palace” was submitted and accepted for competition at this year’s film festival by its French producers, but had not yet been approved for release by China’s film board.

On Wednesday, director Lou Ye and his cast held a news conference here, where he conceded that the sexual content and brief scenes depicting the Chinese Communist government’s 1989 democracy crackdown at Tiananmen Square in Beijing are taboo subjects.

But he hopes an agreement can be reached. “I would do just about anything for the film to be seen in China,” the director said before Thursday’s premiere, and added that he would agree to remove any offending scenes.

The Chinese director was clearly walking a delicate line: He would like his films to play widely both in his own country as well as Western countries, which are likely to look askance at a movie out of China that ignores its politics. While Chinese directors have sparred with cultural commissars for decades, China’s burgeoning box office is adding a new dynamic. Some say foreign movie studios and production companies eager for access have effectively strengthened the censorship apparatus.

The film stars Hao Lei as a young woman who leaves her village for college, where she embarks on a torrid affair as other students begin to demonstrate for democracy and freedom.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.