Frames from Cannes: Defying Beijing news
Chinese director Lou Ye, whose latest "Spring Fever" will compete at the Cannes Film Festival starting May 13, has defied his Government for the second time. In 2006, when Lo screened at Cannes his movie, "Summer Palace" -- a boldly provocative story about the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, student unrest and full frontal nudity, Beijing banned him from making films for five years. Lou appears to have not only made a movie after that, but also brazenly rebelled against the authorities by entering "Spring Fever" for Cannes.
Not much is known about the film, except that it was secretly shot in eastern Chinese city of Nanjing and is a drama set in 2007 about romantic entanglements among three friends. The movie is being now edited in Paris.
Lou has a history of conflicts with the Chinese Government: His 2003 "Purple Butterfly," set against the backdrop of Sino-Japanese hostilities, was allowed to screen in China with some reservations, but "Suzhou River," (2000) tracing the relationship between a courier and an alcohol smuggler's daughter, was not.
"Summer Palace" was far more problematic, because it depicts the Chinese military's brutal crackdown on pro-democracy student protesters in June 1989 that killed hundreds. Also, it features explicit sex and full frontal nudity. Chinese censors are touchy about sex scenes, and the Tiananmen Square incident is an absolute no-no, because Beijing thinks it was counterrevolutionary.
However, Cannes with its classic French streak of rebellion loves works that are controversial and holds Lou in high esteem. Both his "Summer Palace" and "Purple Butterfly" competed, though neither won the Golden Palm.
Will Lou be lucky the third time?
(Gautaman Bhaskaran, who has covered the Cannes Film Festival for 18 years, will be writing this year on the world's top movie event for Dear Cinema.)
