The 45-year-old director said that Chinese film regulators — known for their aversion to sex, crime and political controversy — have not punished him for the drug scandal and that he plans to release his new film, Dada’s Dance (達達), nationally on Sept. 11.
The drama is about a young woman who takes to the road after she is falsely told that her mother is not her birth mother. Zhang said the film’s distributor, Beijing Polybona Film Distribution Co, still has not decided how many screens to release the movie on.
However, Dada’s Dance is getting a late release in China. It premiered nearly a year ago at the Pusan International Film Festival in October 2008. Asked about the long delay, Zhang said he was “working on other things,” but did not elaborate on why his plans had delayed the release.
Zhang was also vague when asked about the drug bust, hanging up after answering several questions. It is not clear if he was charged with any crime. Zhang denied using drugs in the footage of the police raid.
Zhang’s credits include Mum (媽媽), Beijing Bastards (北京雜种), The Square (廣場) and East Palace West Palace (東宮西宮), whose bold exploration of the power play between a police officer and a gay man set off alarms among Chinese censors. Chinese officials confiscated his passport to prevent him from promoting the film overseas, and the movie was never shown in China. — agenciES
RSS