- Title: FRANCE: Chinese director Lou Ye braves ban risk at Cannes
- Date: 15th May 2009
- Summary: CANNES, FRANCE (MAY 14, 2009) (REUTERS) ( *** BEWARE FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY *** ) CAST AND CREW ON RED CARPET PHOTOGRAPHERS ACTRESS ZHUO TAN AND DIRECTOR LOU YE PHOTOGRAPHERS CAST AND CREW ON STEPS WAVING FESTIVAL BANNER CAST AND CREW ON TOP OF STEPS TURNING AROUND AND WALKING INTO THEATRE
- Embargoed: 30th May 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: France
- Country: France
- Reuters ID: LVA2LAWQNLOWDELZXD1FGHDWA3NY
- Story Text: Chinese director Lou Ye brushed off fears he may face problems with the authorities when he returns home after showing his new film "Spring Fever" at the Cannes Film Festival.
"Spring Fever" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday (May 14).
It is a graphic drama that deals with the taboo subject of homosexuality, shot in secret after officials slapped a five-year banning order on Director Lou Ye preventing him from making films following his last feature "Summer Palace".
That film, shown in Cannes in 2006, examined the protest movement that led to the brutal repression in Tiananmen Square in 1989. It earned Lou international acclaim as well as ostracism from the official world of Chinese cinema.
But speaking on Thursday after the press screening of "Spring Fever", he downplayed the furore that has surrounded both the film's subject matter and his problems with the powerful Chinese Film Office.
Lou brushed off fears he may face problems with the authorities when he returns home after showing his new film "Spring Fever" at the Cannes Film Festival.
"I hope nothing will happen when I get back to China. I am just a director making a film. As I said earlier: Don't be afraid of the cinema, that's what I say to myself. But I don't think anything will happen. I don't think there will be any fallout. Anyway, I don't think about the future, I only think in terms of the present," he said.
Shot in grey and sombre tones, using hand-held cameras, "Spring Fever" tells the story of a woman who hires a man to spy on a passionate homosexual relationship her husband is involved in and the obsessive explosion of the affair that follows.
Lou said he saw the film as a love story rather than a story about homosexuality, which is regarded in China with deep disapproval by both the state and society in general.
"I didn't film homosexuality that much. I showed all kinds of complex relationships. I showed feelings, I showed love," he said.
The raw and torrid sex scenes between the male lovers demanded bold performances from his leads, Qin Hao, Wei Wu and Chen Sicheng, but the actors praised the liberty Lou allowed them during the shooting.
"Cinema is cinema. Very often, when you are an actor, choices have to be made," said Chen Sicheng, who plays Luo Haitao, the man hired to investigate the clandestine affair.
"So you've got to decide what you got to do and this is what Lou Ye did, and I was delighted to work with him," he added.
The Cannes Film Festivalon Sunday (May 24). - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: Audio restrictions: This clip's Audio includes copyrighted material. User is responsible for obtaining additional clearances before publishing the audio contained in this clip.
