A new form of film censorship has emerged in Hong Kong.
The M+ museum of visual culture has confirmed that it was only allowed to screen Beijing Bastards, a 1993 film by Chinese director Zhang Yuan, after it agreed to drop the name of the landmark work, which is banned in China.
The January 19 screening at the museum and a post-screening question and answer session with the film’s director is part of a series called “Once Upon a Time in Beijing”.
Based on Google data, as of December 31, 2023 the M+ website was still using the film’s title, which refers to those who did not fit in with mainstream values as China pursued the development of a market economy.
But shortly before the screening, the M+ website switched to calling the movie simply “A Film by Zhang Yuan”.
Hong Kong law requires approval for the screening of all films, regardless of whether they have been shown in public before, from the Office for Film, Newspaper and Article Administration. The Film Censorship Ordinance was amended in 2021 to include national security concerns as justification for censorship.
The opening sequence of Zhang’s film include the words “a beijing bastards group production” and its title, Beijing Bastards, in English and Chinese; the meaning and tone are the same in both languages. They will have been cut to allow for the screening.
The film, shot in documentary style with an original length of 88 minutes, is a gritty portrayal of disenchanted youth in Beijing and of the capital city’s dynamic subculture.
Zhang’s name was subsequently added by the Ministry of Film, Television and Culture to a list of directors blacklisted in China.
The film, which features Chinese rock star Cui Jian, helped cement Zhang’s reputation as a pioneer of China’s “sixth generation” of filmmakers.
The Post has reached out to M+ and the Office for Film, Newspaper and Article Administration.
References to the film under its original title can still be easily found on mainland Chinese websites such as the popular film review website Douban and search engine Sohu.
More to follow …