Every year at the Golden Horse film festival,
a battle is waged between censorship and artistic freedom of expression. There are always one or two films that are considered "inappropriate for public screening" by the Government Information Office (新聞局, GIO). The screenings of these films are instead seen only by film professionals, film critics and film students. This year, somehow, there are five of such films. They are, Mexican bestseller Y Tu Mama Tambien; a lesbian drag story Venus Boyz; lesbian sex comedy Sugar Sweet; a Korean drama about geriatric sexuality Too Young to Die; and most surprisingly, Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now Redux.
Y Tu Mama Tambien, by Alfonso Cuaron, received several awards last year. It won best screenplay and best new performer awards at the Venice Film Festival last year, and was nominated for best foreign-language film at this year's Golden Globe Awards. It has also become a hit in the US market, taking in US$13 million at the box office. Among international films it was second only to French hit Amelie. But these records did not impress the film-rating committee. The film, about friendship, love and adventure among two 17 year-old boys and a beautiful "older girl," has an explicit sex scene involving the three, which is thought to be the main reason for the film being restricted.
According to officials from the GIO, which regulates the movie industry in Taiwan, the decision to restrict these films from general public is not yet final and thus cannot be disclosed. "We are just passing the information to Golden Horse, so that they can adjust their ticketing schedules beforehand," said a GIO staffer surnamed Hsu. The Golden Horse Film Festival has now stopped selling tickets to these five movies at public ticketing outlets. But film professionals can go to the Golden Horse's office for tickets to any of the five films.
"We feel it's a bit unreasonable," said Liu Wei-jan (劉蔚然), program director of the film festival. "Some of those films have scenes with exposed genitals, but this doesn't mean they're provocative or violent."
Every year, the GIO selects officials to serve on a rating committee for movies released in Taiwan. Extreme violence and exposed genitals are generally censored. Those scenes need to be cut or blurred in order to receive an R rating and be released in theaters.
"In order to release a controversial film, we usually cut some scenes by ourselves before sending it to GIO. But such a move is always offensive to the filmmakers," said Andreas Huang (黃煒中) from BIG Film Ltd (先鋒電影), the local distributor of Y Tu Mama Tambien, which is preparing to release the film at the end of November.
For both Huang and Liu the most upsetting part of the film rating system is that there are always different committee members and different standards. "Sometimes exposing genitals is fine, as long as it's not a sexual movement. But sometimes with another group, there is a whole different explanation," Huang said.
"We are most surprised that Apocalypse Now Redux, such a classic film, is also on the blacklist, because of the violence in the extra 49 minutes," said Liu Wei-jan. "It's a different age, but some people's mind sets are still not changed," Huang added, saying that releasing a non-Hollywood film in Taiwan is frustrating. "The market is already small, and now there are restrictions from the government."
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