China bans director for 5 yrs

Courtesy: Galatta
Friday, September 08, 2006
China has banned director Lou Ye from making films for five years as a punishment for showing his latest movie Summer Palace at the Cannes Film Festival without the approval of the government. The movie was presented at Cannes in May and competed for the prestigious Palme d'Or prize. The movie is an erotic love story set around the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests and follows the open and sexually free lives of Chinese students before the protests and its outcomes.

In a telephone interview, the film's French co-producer called the decision by the State Administration of Radio Film and Television "shameful." "I am very sad that the Chinese public will not be allowed to see the fantastic love story," said Sylvain Bursztejn, the head of Paris-based Rosem Films. The censors refused to review it for approval for Cannes, stating that the print submitted was of poor quality.

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