Chinese censors approve first-ever gay movie

Chinese censors have approved movie centered around a gay love story for the first time in the country’s history.

Seek McCartney follows one Chinese and one French man as they embark on a secret romance. The film was co-produced in both countries and stars popular singer Han Geng in one of the lead roles.

The Hollywood Reporter says China’s movie watchdog took a whole year to arrive at its decision, which means the production can be released to cinemas in the winter.

Back in 2005, not even Ang Lee’s heavily acclaimed Brokeback Mountain was allowed to be screened; and it was only in 2010 that homosexuality was taken off the country’s list of subjects deemed inappropriate for exposure in the media.

Writing on Weibo, director Wang Chao said the process was “not easy, but gratifying”; adding that the green-light is a “small step for the regulator and a big step for filmmakers”.

But despite the celebration, Beijing-based filmmaker Fan Popo has warned that Seek McCartney won’t necessarily set a precedent going forward.

“The fact that this film can be released in theaters doesn’t mean gay films in the future will be able to release in China,” he told the Associate Foreign Press. “China’s system for evaluating films is still very unstable, because the rules are very unclear. It depends heavily on the individual censor’s whims.”

It’s also worth noting that the censors have been known to reverse their decisions: Django Unchained, the gory Quentin Tarantino hit, was axed after just a day on release following a huge number of complaints about a Jamie Foxx nude scene.