Hong Kong yesterday banned films that run contrary to the interests of its National Security Law, the latest crackdown on freedom of expression in the territory.
The Hong Kong Legislative Council amended the Film Censorship Bill, turning movie censors into gatekeepers of the law with penalties as high as HK$1,000,000 (US$128,569) and three years in prison for those who screen non-approved content.
Inspectors can search without a warrant a premises showing a film, including company offices or a private members’ club, and the Hong Kong Film Censorship Authority can demand more information about screenings.
Photo: Reuters
Questions hang over how the changes will affect streaming services such as Netflix Inc, which offers a documentary on right advocate Joshua Wong (黃之鋒) in Hong Kong.
Netflix declined to comment, while Vimeo Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Apple Inc did not reply to questions about the changes.
“It is a treacherous climate for businesses having to make content decisions,” said Darrell West, senior fellow at the Center for Technology Innovation at the Brookings Institution.
The changes are part of a wider legal assault on the freedom of expression and information once prized in the former British colony, but severely reduced in mainland China.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) said that the Legislative Council had “delivered a brilliant performance,” as all of the political opposition had either been arrested, disqualified or resigned after Beijing mandated that national security officials approve candidates.
“They have done really well in terms of legislative amendments and proposals,” Lam said in a regular news briefing on Tuesday.
Baking such censorship into law were “dictatorial maneuvrings designed to undermine a vibrant Hong Kong film culture,” said Joseph Tse-Hei Lee (李榭熙), director of the Global Asia Institute at Pace University in New York, who has published two papers on Hong Kong cinema.
After decades producing global movie stars such as Tony Leung (梁朝偉), some in the film industry worried that the amendments signaled the “death of Hong Kong cinema,” Lee said.
“It is hard to imagine how film directors, executive producers and actors could stay politically neutral because China’s definition of politics focuses narrowly on any opinion and action thought to be a security threat,” he said.
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