Chinese Filmmakers Absent From Cannes Premiere

The premiere of mainland movie "Summer of Changsha" will go ahead at the Cannes film festival, organisers said Tuesday, despite the team behind it saying they would not be there.

Zu Feng's tale of betrayal – which is due to screen on Wednesday – is one of two Chinese noir movies showing at the world's biggest film festival.

But on Tuesday speculation was mounting that it had become the third Chinese film to be pulled from a major festival this year after falling foul of the censors.

In a message posted on the film's official account on social media platform Weibo, the producers said: "Due to technical reasons, the producer and all leading creators of the film 'Summer of Changsha' will not participate in the 72nd Cannes Film Festival and the related official activities."

But the festival said the premiere would go ahead without the director and cast.

Beijing recently introduced regulations that require filmmakers to be handed a "dragon seal" of approval before films may be screened at festivals abroad.

Another mainland crime thriller, Diao Yinan's stylish "The Wild Goose Lake", was shown without incident last week at Cannes, where it is competing for the Palme d'Or top prize against Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time In Hollywood", which premieres on Tuesday.

One of the country's most famous directors, Zhang Yimou, the maker of "Raise the Red Lantern", was forced to withdraw "One Second" from the Berlinale in February on the eve of the festival.

Another Chinese movie, "Better Days", that had been scheduled to show in the German capital, failed to get the go-ahead in time from Beijing. (AFP)