Taipei, Taiwan – When the producer Wang Zijian made the film “Bel Ami” or “Beautiful Friends”, he knew that he had no chance to radiate in Chinese theaters.
The black and white satire, which plays in a small, snow-capped Chinese city, describes the overlapping life of gay couples, a topic that is strictly censorship under confronted China's authoritarian leader.
Wang also found it unlikely that it was welcome in Hong Kong because the China Communist Party tightened control over the former British colony.
Like a growing number of Chinese filmmakers who worried about censorship, he turned to his last chance to reach a Chinese -speaking audience: Taiwan.
The film “Bel Ami” or “Beautiful Friends, a black and white satire in a small, snow-capped Chinese city, describes the overlapping life of gay couples, a topic that is subject to strict censorship among Chinese authoritarian leaders.
(Blackfin production)
“This is the only remaining market for us,” said Wang, a 36-year-old film producer who lives in Beijing.
Last year he submitted his film to Taiwan's most prestigious film festival, the Golden Horse Awards, in the hope that this would lead to commercial publication.
This decision formed its own risks. The Chinese censors are increasingly pressure on filmmakers, including those who are trying to avoid the government by taking care of their work abroad. If the restrictions on the representations of sensitive topics such as the Covid 19 pandemic increase, filmmakers who ignore the requirements for official approval are at risk of effects on their lives and work.
The Chinese authorities are particularly sensitive in terms of Taiwan, an island democracy that China claims as a territory and swore to take a day if necessary.
In 2019, China ordered its filmmakers not to participate in the Golden Horse Awards Festival after a winner expressed support for Taiwanese independence.
In turn, Taiwan limits the number of Chinese films that are shown every year in cinemas – to 10 – selected by randomly from about 50 submissions. The restriction dates from the nineties when China and Taiwan slowly opened the cultural exchange.
For the film “Bel Ami”, producer Wang Zijian turned to his last chance to reach a Chinese -speaking audience: Taiwan.
(Blackfin production)
Exceptions are made for films that win large awards at large film festivals. In November, Wang's film, which was shot in China, won Golden Horse Awards for Schauspiel, Kinematography and Processing, but these awards were considered too small to qualify for the commercial publication.
This month, Wang and others published a petition in which Taiwan was asked to relax the rules and to give further exceptions for award-winning films-in an impact on his “BEL AMI”.
It is also argued that “Bel Ami” – which was financed and produced by a French company – should be seen as an international film. But Taiwan thinks it is a Chinese film because more than half of the main cast is Chinese.
Since 2017, when China began to demand feature films to preserve the approval of authorities for demonstrations at home and overseas, the increasing number of Chinese filmmakers have come together with foreigners to avoid the new rules.
“Nobody knows if a film will be okay,” said Sabrina Qiong Yu, professor of film and Chinese studies at Newcastle University in England. “These regulations are more there to promote self -censorship than actually censor.”
The new restrictions also tightened a decline in the independent film festivals in China, dampened the possibilities for filmmakers outside the official system – and let more look abroad.
“Censorship has always been there,” said Yu. “But when it was getting harder, many filmmakers Taiwan saw one of the best places to present their work.”
Last year, a total of 276 films from China were submitted to the Taiwan Festival – most since 2018, the year before China started boycott.
The award for the best narrative film went to an “unfinished film”, a Chinese film about a film team that was caught in quarantine in the early days of the Covid 19 pandemic.
The award for the best narrative film at a Taiwanese film festival last year went to an “unfinished film”, a Chinese film about a film team that was caught in quarantine in the early days of the Covid 19 pandemic.
(Hurray films)
It also won for the best director. Lou Ye was aware of the punishments that Chinese filmmakers were confronted if they were able to resist the government after they were temporarily forbidden to work for sensitive issues such as LGBTQ+ Communities and protests for democracy and to transfer its work without permission.
However, the latest awards brought him a commercial publication in Taiwan. It is unclear whether Lou was exposed to the regulations for winning last year. The film's distributor rejected a request for an interview.
Wang said that he and Geng Jun, the director of “Bel Ami”, said by the Chinese authorities because of the submission of their film with the Golden Horse Awards, but rejected details.
“The authorities' approach was always to impose punishment in a way that leaves no trace,” he said. “As soon as you believe that your rationality does not work, you can use your power to threaten you.”
The Taiwanese festival has the reputation of recognizing Asian films that are at home against bans, including “Revolution of Oures”, a documentary from Hong Kong 2021 about the Pro Democracy protests there and “The Story of Southern Islet”, a Malaysian Film 2020, whose Malaysian 2020 refused to cut out scenes of traditional folklore and supernatural beliefs.
However, the Chinese films will probably be exposed to a review, since the tensions have deteriorated over the overarching.
Wonder Weng, Executive Director of the Taiwan Film Critics Society, has long used the abolition of the quota for Chinese films. However, the efforts have achieved little effort, largely because the Taiwanese society is less interested in films from the Chinese mainland.
While film enthusiasts and specialists have promoted independent Chinese productions, a sub -group of Taiwan vehemently refuses to Chinese content, which are sometimes regarded as the Communist Party propaganda.
“Although most people know that these regulations are inappropriate, they don't pay much attention to the problem,” he said.
In response to questions from the time, the Ministry of Culture in Taiwan said that it would continue to assess the need for the restrictions, but that festival -screenings, the lottery system and the awards for the awards will ensure that Chinese films can be seen in Taiwan.
In any case, Taiwan, with 23 million inhabitants, offers much slimmer financial prospects than China, which has 1.4 billion people.
“Basically, 99% of the Chinese films published in Taiwan are terribly up at the box office”. “But I liked it myself very much, so I wanted to see if it had a chance here.”
As for Wang, the “Bel Ami” producer said that he was considering submitting his work in 2020 and 2021 at the Taiwan Festival, but was too afraid that they would cause problems with the authorities.
This time he had the feeling that he had to lose less.
Wang Zijian, a producer living in Beijing, said he was molested by the Chinese authorities because he submitted the film “Bel Ami” at a Taiwanese film festival. But he said: “For us this is the only remaining market.”
(Blackfin production)
He said that the deepening of the censorship of China's film industry ruins and turned the country into a place where “everyone does what the government wants to see”.
Like many Chinese independent films, “Bel Ami” did not get any reviews of China's highly managed internet.
On the night of the Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan, Wang from friends at home in China heard that the Chinese social media had become a battlefield between commentators who celebrated the Chinese entries, and the Internet censors who took their contributions.
The censors had won at 4 a.m.
But Wang was satisfied that his film had at least a few discussions in China.
Taiwan, he said, was the “last place of hope for the Chinese language cinema”.