Beijing Film Festival drops Call Me By Your Name from official program; no reason given for the change

Academy Award nominee for Best Picture, Call Me By Your Name seems to be facing censorship by the Chinese authorities. The Luca Guadagnino directed movie, which tells the heart-wrenching story of love between a teenager and a graduate student over a summer in the Italian countryside, has been  dropped by the Beijing Film Festival from its official program, distributors told Reuters. No official reason was given for the sudden change of plans at the Beijing International Film Festival. [caption id=“attachment_4407277” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  A still from Call Me By Your Name/Image from Twitter.[/caption] While homosexuality is not illegal in China, being gay is regarded with disapproval by much of Chinese society and the government. Wu Jian, a Beijing-based film analyst told Reuters that it was “quite embarrassing for China” that the Oscar-winning film was pulled from the April festival’s lineup. Jian also said, “This movie is in deviation from the policy environment in China.” Very recently, the Chinese authorities started to tighten their control over media content even further. Earlier this month, China’s parliament voted to allow the Communist Party’s propaganda department to have control over film, news and publishing.

Beijing is not the first to pull out the Academy Award winning feature film. Last month, Tunisia banned Call Me By Your Name  due to its “subject” matter.

The Beijing Film Festival runs from 16-23 April.