The only non-exclusively Chinese feature nominated at this year’s awards, LOU Ye’s France-China co-production Mystery, leads the way with four nominations. The film had its premiere earlier this year at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard.
LOU has long been out of favour with the Chinese censors and threatened to remove his name from Mystery in protest at the cuts SARFT has required for the film to pass censorship before screening on the Chinese mainland. Several of the filmmaker’s previous films, including Summer Palace, Suzhou River and Love and Bruises (also a France-China co-production), have been premiered at and been well received at A list European festivals and failed to satisfy the censors at home.
