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“These days, there are no miracles any more like when Jia Zhangke used a DV camera and got ‘Unknown Pleasures’ - such a low-budget film - into Cannes,” he says.īut a lack of supply of LGBT stories by no means signals a lack of demand. Unable to attract the financing to foot bigger budgets, they’re fated to remain independent, DIY affairs - a gritty style that no longer matches the polished art-house aesthetic of international festivals, Fan laments. “It seems like there’s an effort maybe not to forbid LGBT content but to constrain it and let it exist in a bounded space.”Įxplicitly LGBT Chinese films have no commercial prospects: They can’t screen in local cinemas or formally play in festivals abroad. But “a lot more of the censorship is invisible - you only learn about it when you talk to LGBT activists who say, ‘We’re trying to put out content, but it’s getting blocked or throttled,’” explains Darius Longarino, a senior fellow at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center who focuses on LGBT rights in China.
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When authorities do something like cut out direct references to Freddie Mercury’s sexuality in “Bohemian Rhapsody,” the censorship is obvious. Same-sex moments in “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” and Disney’s live-action “Beauty and the Beast” also made it to the big screen unscathed, yet “Call Me by Your Name” - which has a cult following in China despite never having been officially released - was pulled at the last minute from the Beijing Intl.
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CHINESE GAY MOVIES ON NETFLIX SERIES
However, subtle content can sometimes make it through - like the Netflix-acquired boys love series “The Untamed,” which became one of last summer’s hottest titles.
CHINESE GAY MOVIES ON NETFLIX TV
Same-sex themes are technically banned from appearing on TV and, since 2017, in online streaming. Its censors have no clear, comprehensive policy on such content, but it is deemed sensitive and is inconsistently but regularly removed. This is my best hope for Chinese LGBT films.”Ĭhina has an uneven stance on homosexuality, which is not criminalized but also not legally recognized. “If there is a revival of independent films in China, then I believe LGBT films will be part of it. “Policies won’t change in our current political environment, so the future of LGBT cinema in China will depend on the indie circle, how we can create stories with small budgets but interesting ideas,” says Fan Popo, who now lives in Berlin and is one of China’s few filmmakers openly focused on LGBT content. As the Chinese film industry enters a new slump due to the coronavirus, some wonder if a silver lining could be that those laid off or unable to start new projects might turn once more to the indie sector, willing again to consider filmmaking for passion rather than profit.