Chinas Banned Director Back with Bisexual Drama

Chinese film director Lou Ye, who has been barred from filmmaking until 2011 by his government, has brought his stealthily filmed bisexual romance to Hong Kong's Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, which opened Friday.

His 2006 film Summer Palace, which depicted the Chinese government's crackdown on democratic activism in Tiananmen Square in 1989, drew an uproar from the government, and he screened it at the Cannes Film Festival without their permission. Officials barred him from shooting movies for five years, but Lou started shooting his new film, Spring Fever, which has graphic gay sex scenes.

The protagonist is a private investigator hired to spy on a man who is having a gay affair. However, the investigator becomes entangled in a love triangle with the boyfriend of the man he's investigating and his own girlfriend.

According to the Associated Press, Lou's film has distribution deals in the United States, France, Russia, and South Korea, but not in China. Spring Fever was screened at Cannes earlier this year. Its only showing in China was at an independent festival in Nanjing.

"It's regrettable that this film won't be released in the Chinese market," Lou told AP. He has lobbied the government to lift the ban. "Everyone should be able to make movies. I hope this ban will be canceled earlier and I hope the government won't impose any more bans on other directors."