.gif)
Summer Palace (film)
Encyclopedia
Summer Palace is a 2006 Chinese film and the fourth feature film by director
Lou Ye
. The film was a Chinese-French collaboration produced by Dream Factory, Laurel Films
, Fantasy Pictures
and Sylvain Bursztejn's Rosem Films. It was made in association with France's Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication
, Ministère des Affaires Étrangères
and Centre National de la Cinématographie
(CNC).
The film deals with a young student played by Hao Lei
who leaves her small hometown to study at the fictional "Beiqing University" (an homage to Peking University
). There she meets a fellow student and begins an intense romantic relationship in the backdrop of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
. The film also follows the eventual disillusionment of these young idealists after the crackdown, as the years progress through the 1990s and into the 2000s. The film is named after the Summer Palace
located in Beijing.
Summer Palaces sex scenes
and political undertones made the film tinder for controversy in China, leading both the director, Lou Ye, and his producers into conflict with China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television
(SARFT). After screening Summer Palace in the 2006 Cannes Film Festival
without government approval, the film was placed under a de facto ban in Mainland China, and its filmmakers officially censured.
), a young woman from the border-city of Tumen
, who is accepted to the fictional Beiqing University, a name that evokes either Peking University
("Beida") or Tsinghua University
("Qinghua"). While in school, Yu Hong meets Li Ti, her best friend (played by Hu Lingling), and Zhou Wei, her college boyfriend and the love of her life (played by Guo Xiaodong). The film is divided into two parts. The first begins in the late 1980s (subtitles inform the audience of the place and year at various points in the film), as Yu Hong enters the university. Lonely and isolated despite the cramped living conditions, Yu Hong eventually befriends another student, Li Ti, who introduces her to her boyfriend Ruo Gu (played by Zhang Xianmin), and Ruo Gu's friend Zhou Wei. Yu Hong and Zhou Wei embark upon a passionate but volatile love affair just as political forces are moving towards Tiananmen Square
.
Two events then bring the first half of the film to a close: First, Zhou Wei, incensed at the jealousy and emotional instability of his girlfriend, begins to have an affair with Li Ti; and second, the crackdown
occurs on the students on Tiananmen Square and on the campus of Beida. During all of this, Yu Hong's old boyfriend Xiao Jun (played by Cui Jin) from Tumen arrives and the two of them leave, Yu Hong deciding that she will drop out from the university.
The film then fast forwards several years, as Lou Ye intersperses the travels of his three main characters with news footage of the end of the Cold War
, and the 1997 Hong Kong handover
. Yu Hong has left Tumen again, first for Shenzhen
, and then for the central China city of Wuhan
, while Li Ti and Ruo Gu have moved to Berlin. Yu Hong is unable to forget Zhou Wei, and has empty affairs with a married man and a kind but quiet mailroom worker. The film follows her disaffection with society and her use of sex as a substitute for contentment. Eventually discovering that she is pregnant, Yu Hong gets an abortion
and moves to Chongqing
where she marries.
Li Ti, Ruo Gu, and Zhou Wei, meanwhile, live a quiet life as expatriates in Berlin. While Li Ti and Zhou Wei still occasionally make love, the former quietly realizes that the latter does not love her. Though the three friends appear happy, when Zhou Wei plans to return home to China and settle in the city of Chongqing, Li Ti suddenly commits suicide
. There he connects with former classmates who in turn point him to Yu Hong's email address.
After more than ten years, Zhou Wei and Yu Hong at last reunite in the resort city of Beidaihe
. While they embrace, they ask each other, "Now what?" When Yu Hong leaves, ostensibly to buy drinks, Zhou Wei understands that they can never be together and leaves as well.
on October 10, 2006, and a limited theatrical release beginning on January 18, 2008 through distributor Palm Pictures
.
DVD
in France
on January 28, 2008. The single disc edition includes the film in its original Mandarin with French subtitles, along with special features such as a making-of documentary
, a featurette on censorship, Lou Ye's film notes, and cast and crew biographies.
A Region 1 DVD was released in the United States on March 11, 2008 by Palm Pictures
.
, where it was the only Asian film in competition. However, the Palme d'Or
eventually went to the Irish film, The Wind That Shakes the Barley
, directed by Ken Loach
. Besides Cannes, Summer Palace was also screened at a handful of top-tier festivals including Toronto
and Mill Valley
.
Critics were generally positive in reviews, citing the film's ambition and scope with the most common complaint being the film's excessive length at 140 minutes. Derek Elley of Variety
claimed the film was "half an hour too long." The Daily Telegraph
, meanwhile, also mentioned the "thirty minutes too long" complaint but stated that the film was nevertheless a "a raw and unsettling new work." The Guardian
also found the film "over-long and meandering," but also "stylish [and] atmospheric."
The New York Times
gave a particularly glowing review for the film with film critic A. O. Scott
writing that "...[despite] its 2-hour-20-minute length, 'Summer Palace' moves with the swiftness and syncopation of a pop song. Like Jean-Luc Godard
in the 1960s, Mr. Lou favors breathless tracking shots and snappy jump cuts, and like Mr. Godard’s, his camera is magnetized by female beauty."
The film was released with an "unrated" rating in the United States. Several American film critics have described Summer Palace as one of the most sexually-explicit films in years; indeed David Denby
of The New Yorker
noted that he never seen so much lovemaking in an "aboveground" film, however, he also noted that these scenes are not pornographic, that is, never separated from emotion. Joshua Rothkopf and V.A. Musetta speculate that the male and female full-frontal nudity caused the ban in China.
but failed to garner any awards. Though Summer Palace was the only Asian film in competition for the Palme d'Or
, Lou and his producers had not received approval from Chinese censors, thus instigating an official censure by the Chinese State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television
(SARFT). Ultimately, both Lou and his producer, Nai An, were forbidden by the Chinese Government to make any new films for five years.
Besides the filmmakers, Summer Palace itself was de-facto banned when SARFT refused to grant a certificate to distribute in the Mainland, though Lou claimed the ban was due to "technical reasons" in that the film was not up to the official standards for picture and sound quality.
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
Lou Ye
Lou Ye
Lou Ye , born 1965, is a Chinese writer-director who is commonly grouped with the "Sixth Generation" directors of Chinese cinema.-Films:Born in Shanghai, Lou was educated at the Beijing Film Academy. In 1993, he made his first film Weekend Lover, but it was not released until two years later in 1995...
. The film was a Chinese-French collaboration produced by Dream Factory, Laurel Films
Laurel Films
Laurel Films is an independent Beijing-based production company, operated by producer and screenwriter Fang Li. The company has produced several independent films from directors like Wang Chao, Li Yu and Lou Ye....
, Fantasy Pictures
Fantasy Pictures
Fantasy Pictures Entertainment is a Chinese independent film production company and distributor founded by photographer Lin Fan in 2005. Focusing primarily on independent films, Fantasy was involved in the production of Lou Ye's Summer Palace, Robin Weng's Fujian Blue, and Wang Bing's Fengming, a...
and Sylvain Bursztejn's Rosem Films. It was made in association with France's Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication
Minister of Culture (France)
The Minister of Culture is, in the Government of France, the cabinet member in charge of national museums and monuments; promoting and protecting the arts in France and abroad; and managing the national archives and regional "maisons de culture"...
, Ministère des Affaires Étrangères
Minister of Foreign Affairs (France)
Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs ), is France's foreign affairs ministry, with the headquarters located on the Quai d'Orsay in Paris close to the National Assembly of France. The Minister of Foreign and European Affairs in the government of France is the cabinet minister responsible for...
and Centre National de la Cinématographie
Centre National de la Cinématographie
Le Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée or CNC is a French agency of the Ministry of Culture, responsible for the production and promotion of cinematic and audiovisual arts in France, is a publicly owned establishment, with legal and financial autonomy.Created by law on 25 October 1946...
(CNC).
The film deals with a young student played by Hao Lei
Hao Lei
Hao Lei is a Chinese actress. She was born in Tonghua, Jilin. Hao first gained international prominence as Yu Hong, the heroine in Lou Ye's 2006 film about the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, Summer Palace. In November 2010, she won a Taiwan Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actress for...
who leaves her small hometown to study at the fictional "Beiqing University" (an homage to Peking University
Peking University
Peking University , colloquially known in Chinese as Beida , is a major research university located in Beijing, China, and a member of the C9 League. It is the first established modern national university of China. It was founded as Imperial University of Peking in 1898 as a replacement of the...
). There she meets a fellow student and begins an intense romantic relationship in the backdrop of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, also known as the June Fourth Incident in Chinese , were a series of demonstrations in and near Tiananmen Square in Beijing in the People's Republic of China beginning on 15 April 1989...
. The film also follows the eventual disillusionment of these young idealists after the crackdown, as the years progress through the 1990s and into the 2000s. The film is named after the Summer Palace
Summer Palace
The Summer Palace is a palace in Beijing, China. The Summer Palace is mainly dominated by Longevity Hill and the Kunming Lake. It covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometers, three quarters of which is water....
located in Beijing.
Summer Palaces sex scenes
Sex in film
Sex in film refers to the presentation in motion pictures of sexuality and sex acts, including love scenes. Sex scenes have been depicted in film since the silent era of cinematography. Many actors and actresses have exposed parts of their bodies or dressed and behaved in ways considered sexually...
and political undertones made the film tinder for controversy in China, leading both the director, Lou Ye, and his producers into conflict with China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television
State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television
The State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television is an executive branch under the State Council of the People's Republic of China...
(SARFT). After screening Summer Palace in the 2006 Cannes Film Festival
2006 Cannes Film Festival
The 2006 Cannes Film Festival ran from May 17, 2006 to May 28, 2006. Twenty films from eleven countries were in competition for the Palme d'Or. The President of the Official Jury was Wong Kar-wai, the first Chinese director to preside over the jury....
without government approval, the film was placed under a de facto ban in Mainland China, and its filmmakers officially censured.
Plot
Spanning several cities and over a decade, Summer Palace tells the story of Yu Hong (played by Hao LeiHao Lei
Hao Lei is a Chinese actress. She was born in Tonghua, Jilin. Hao first gained international prominence as Yu Hong, the heroine in Lou Ye's 2006 film about the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, Summer Palace. In November 2010, she won a Taiwan Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actress for...
), a young woman from the border-city of Tumen
Tumen, Jilin
Tumen is a county-level city in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, eastern Jilin province, Northeast China. Of its 136,000 inhabitants, approximately 78,000 are of Korean descent. The two official languages are Chinese and Korean. Tumen is separated from Namyang of North Hamgyong province of...
, who is accepted to the fictional Beiqing University, a name that evokes either Peking University
Peking University
Peking University , colloquially known in Chinese as Beida , is a major research university located in Beijing, China, and a member of the C9 League. It is the first established modern national university of China. It was founded as Imperial University of Peking in 1898 as a replacement of the...
("Beida") or Tsinghua University
Tsinghua University
Tsinghua University , colloquially known in Chinese as Qinghua, is a university in Beijing, China. The school is one of the nine universities of the C9 League. It was established in 1911 under the name "Tsinghua Xuetang" or "Tsinghua College" and was renamed the "Tsinghua School" one year later...
("Qinghua"). While in school, Yu Hong meets Li Ti, her best friend (played by Hu Lingling), and Zhou Wei, her college boyfriend and the love of her life (played by Guo Xiaodong). The film is divided into two parts. The first begins in the late 1980s (subtitles inform the audience of the place and year at various points in the film), as Yu Hong enters the university. Lonely and isolated despite the cramped living conditions, Yu Hong eventually befriends another student, Li Ti, who introduces her to her boyfriend Ruo Gu (played by Zhang Xianmin), and Ruo Gu's friend Zhou Wei. Yu Hong and Zhou Wei embark upon a passionate but volatile love affair just as political forces are moving towards Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square is a large city square in the center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen Gate located to its North, separating it from the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is the third largest city square in the world...
.
Two events then bring the first half of the film to a close: First, Zhou Wei, incensed at the jealousy and emotional instability of his girlfriend, begins to have an affair with Li Ti; and second, the crackdown
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, also known as the June Fourth Incident in Chinese , were a series of demonstrations in and near Tiananmen Square in Beijing in the People's Republic of China beginning on 15 April 1989...
occurs on the students on Tiananmen Square and on the campus of Beida. During all of this, Yu Hong's old boyfriend Xiao Jun (played by Cui Jin) from Tumen arrives and the two of them leave, Yu Hong deciding that she will drop out from the university.
The film then fast forwards several years, as Lou Ye intersperses the travels of his three main characters with news footage of the end of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, and the 1997 Hong Kong handover
Transfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong
The transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China, referred to as ‘the Return’ or ‘the Reunification’ by the Chinese and ‘the Handover’ by others, took place on 1 July 1997...
. Yu Hong has left Tumen again, first for Shenzhen
Shenzhen
Shenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones...
, and then for the central China city of Wuhan
Wuhan
Wuhan is the capital of Hubei province, People's Republic of China, and is the most populous city in Central China. It lies at the east of the Jianghan Plain, and the intersection of the middle reaches of the Yangtze and Han rivers...
, while Li Ti and Ruo Gu have moved to Berlin. Yu Hong is unable to forget Zhou Wei, and has empty affairs with a married man and a kind but quiet mailroom worker. The film follows her disaffection with society and her use of sex as a substitute for contentment. Eventually discovering that she is pregnant, Yu Hong gets an abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
and moves to Chongqing
Chongqing
Chongqing is a major city in Southwest China and one of the five national central cities of China. Administratively, it is one of the PRC's four direct-controlled municipalities , and the only such municipality in inland China.The municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the...
where she marries.
Li Ti, Ruo Gu, and Zhou Wei, meanwhile, live a quiet life as expatriates in Berlin. While Li Ti and Zhou Wei still occasionally make love, the former quietly realizes that the latter does not love her. Though the three friends appear happy, when Zhou Wei plans to return home to China and settle in the city of Chongqing, Li Ti suddenly commits suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. There he connects with former classmates who in turn point him to Yu Hong's email address.
After more than ten years, Zhou Wei and Yu Hong at last reunite in the resort city of Beidaihe
Beidaihe
Beidaihe District is a district in Qinhuangdao municipality, Hebei province on the coast of the Bohai Sea in North China. It has an area of 70.14 square kilometers and a population of 66,000. is also known as a birding haven. The Beidaihe Beach Resort stretches 10 km from east to west, from...
. While they embrace, they ask each other, "Now what?" When Yu Hong leaves, ostensibly to buy drinks, Zhou Wei understands that they can never be together and leaves as well.
Cast
- Hao LeiHao LeiHao Lei is a Chinese actress. She was born in Tonghua, Jilin. Hao first gained international prominence as Yu Hong, the heroine in Lou Ye's 2006 film about the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, Summer Palace. In November 2010, she won a Taiwan Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actress for...
as Yu Hong - the film's heroine, a young student at the fictional Beiqing University from the small town of Tumen, JilinTumen, JilinTumen is a county-level city in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, eastern Jilin province, Northeast China. Of its 136,000 inhabitants, approximately 78,000 are of Korean descent. The two official languages are Chinese and Korean. Tumen is separated from Namyang of North Hamgyong province of...
on the North Korean-Chinese border. Yu Hong is a willful young woman who desires to live life more intensely. Her love affair with the character of Zhou Wei serves as the basis of the film. - Guo Xiaodong as Zhou Wei - Yu Hong's love interest, another student at the same university. Something of an intellectual, Zhou Wei is both deeply in love with Yu Hong and prone to infidelity. When the Tiananmen protests arrive, he like his fellow students join in the movement.
- Hu Lingling as Li Ti - Yu Hong's best friend and eventual rival. Li Ti, an English-language major at the same university, is the first to befriend the sullen, quiet Yu Hong. Though considered a cynic, she harbors a romantic side as well.
- Zhang Xianmin as Ruo Gu - Li Ti's boyfriend, a student studying abroad in BerlinBerlinBerlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. - Cui Lin as Xiao Jun - Yu Hong's high school boyfriend from Tumen.
- Bai Xueyun as Wang Bo - Yu Hong's lover in Wuhan.
Theatrical
Summer Palace premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2006, and was released theatrically in France a year later on April 18, 2007 by Océan Films, under the title Une Jeunesse Chinoise (in English, "A Chinese Youth"). The film received its American debut in the Mill Valley Film FestivalMill Valley Film Festival
The Mill Valley Film Festival is an annual, non-competitive film festival presented by the California Film Institute. Known as a filmmakers’ festival, the annual Mill Valley Film Festival offers a non-competitive environment for exhibiting independent and world cinema.Founded in 1978 by MVFF...
on October 10, 2006, and a limited theatrical release beginning on January 18, 2008 through distributor Palm Pictures
Palm Pictures
Palm Pictures is a US-based entertainment company owned and run by Chris Blackwell. Palm Pictures produces, acquires and distributes innovative music and film projects with a particular focus on the DVD format...
.
Home media
Summer Palace was released on Region 2DVD region code
DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...
DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
on January 28, 2008. The single disc edition includes the film in its original Mandarin with French subtitles, along with special features such as a making-of documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
, a featurette on censorship, Lou Ye's film notes, and cast and crew biographies.
A Region 1 DVD was released in the United States on March 11, 2008 by Palm Pictures
Palm Pictures
Palm Pictures is a US-based entertainment company owned and run by Chris Blackwell. Palm Pictures produces, acquires and distributes innovative music and film projects with a particular focus on the DVD format...
.
Reception
Summer Palace was screened at several international film festivals, most notably Cannes2006 Cannes Film Festival
The 2006 Cannes Film Festival ran from May 17, 2006 to May 28, 2006. Twenty films from eleven countries were in competition for the Palme d'Or. The President of the Official Jury was Wong Kar-wai, the first Chinese director to preside over the jury....
, where it was the only Asian film in competition. However, the Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
eventually went to the Irish film, The Wind That Shakes the Barley
The Wind That Shakes the Barley (film)
The Wind That Shakes the Barley is a 2006 Irish war drama film directed by Ken Loach, set during the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War...
, directed by Ken Loach
Ken Loach
Kenneth "Ken" Loach is a Palme D'Or winning English film and television director.He is known for his naturalistic, social realist directing style and for his socialist beliefs, which are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as homelessness , labour rights and child abuse at the...
. Besides Cannes, Summer Palace was also screened at a handful of top-tier festivals including Toronto
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
and Mill Valley
Mill Valley Film Festival
The Mill Valley Film Festival is an annual, non-competitive film festival presented by the California Film Institute. Known as a filmmakers’ festival, the annual Mill Valley Film Festival offers a non-competitive environment for exhibiting independent and world cinema.Founded in 1978 by MVFF...
.
Critics were generally positive in reviews, citing the film's ambition and scope with the most common complaint being the film's excessive length at 140 minutes. Derek Elley of Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
claimed the film was "half an hour too long." The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, meanwhile, also mentioned the "thirty minutes too long" complaint but stated that the film was nevertheless a "a raw and unsettling new work." The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
also found the film "over-long and meandering," but also "stylish [and] atmospheric."
The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
gave a particularly glowing review for the film with film critic A. O. Scott
A. O. Scott
Anthony Oliver Scott, known as A. O. Scott , is an American journalist and critic. He is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with Manohla Dargis.-Background and education:...
writing that "...[despite] its 2-hour-20-minute length, 'Summer Palace' moves with the swiftness and syncopation of a pop song. Like Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
in the 1960s, Mr. Lou favors breathless tracking shots and snappy jump cuts, and like Mr. Godard’s, his camera is magnetized by female beauty."
The film was released with an "unrated" rating in the United States. Several American film critics have described Summer Palace as one of the most sexually-explicit films in years; indeed David Denby
David Denby (film critic)
David Denby is an American journalist, best known as a film critic for The New Yorker magazine.-Background and education:Denby grew up in New York City. He received a B.A...
of The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
noted that he never seen so much lovemaking in an "aboveground" film, however, he also noted that these scenes are not pornographic, that is, never separated from emotion. Joshua Rothkopf and V.A. Musetta speculate that the male and female full-frontal nudity caused the ban in China.
Ban and controversy
The film was in competition at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival2006 Cannes Film Festival
The 2006 Cannes Film Festival ran from May 17, 2006 to May 28, 2006. Twenty films from eleven countries were in competition for the Palme d'Or. The President of the Official Jury was Wong Kar-wai, the first Chinese director to preside over the jury....
but failed to garner any awards. Though Summer Palace was the only Asian film in competition for the Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
, Lou and his producers had not received approval from Chinese censors, thus instigating an official censure by the Chinese State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television
State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television
The State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television is an executive branch under the State Council of the People's Republic of China...
(SARFT). Ultimately, both Lou and his producer, Nai An, were forbidden by the Chinese Government to make any new films for five years.
Besides the filmmakers, Summer Palace itself was de-facto banned when SARFT refused to grant a certificate to distribute in the Mainland, though Lou claimed the ban was due to "technical reasons" in that the film was not up to the official standards for picture and sound quality.
See also
- Lost in BeijingLost in BeijingLost in Beijing is a 2007 Chinese film directed by Li Yu and starring Tony Leung Ka-fai, Fan Bingbing, Tong Dawei, and Elaine Jin. It had its international premiere at the 2007 Berlin International Film Festival on February 16, 2007...
, director Li YuLi Yu (director)Li Yu is a female Chinese film director and screenwriter. Li began her career in entertainment at a young age, serving as a presenter at a local TV station...
's 2007 film, also produced by Fang Li's Laurel FilmsLaurel FilmsLaurel Films is an independent Beijing-based production company, operated by producer and screenwriter Fang Li. The company has produced several independent films from directors like Wang Chao, Li Yu and Lou Ye....
, which like Summer Palace, was banned by Chinese authorities. - Banned films, China
- Censorship in the People's Republic of ChinaCensorship in the People's Republic of ChinaCensorship in the People's Republic of China is implemented or mandated by the PRC's ruling party, the Communist Party of China . The special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau have their own legal systems and are largely self-governing, so these censorship policies do not apply...
External links
- Official site from distributor Palm Pictures
- Summer Palace at MonkeyPeaches