Chinese director banned for five years
Acclaimed Chinese director Lou Ye and his producer Nai An have been banned from making films for the next five years after submitting a film to the Cannes Film Festival without government approval.
Summer Palace, which is set against the backdrop of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, was the only Asian film in the running for the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival but had been submitted without the approval of China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT).
In recent years, an array of young Chinese directors offended the censors by submitting their works to overseas films festivals and incurred a ban on their films.
Wang Xiaoshuai’s Beijing Bicycle, the Silver Bear and Jury Grand Prix winner for the 54th Berlin film festival, suffered a two-plus-year ban after 2001.
Others included Zhang Yimou for Living (1994), Zhang Yuan for Seventeen Years (1999) and Jiang Wen for Devils on the Doorstep (2000).
(via The Movie Blog)
Tuesday 05 Sep 2006 | Paul | China
