The Chinese indie flick LOST IN BEIJING opens in the US today and it’s already the most important Chinese movie of the year, not so much for its content but for its fate. Released in November 2007, “Lost in Beijing” became one of the highest-grossing indies of the year in China, but on January 3rd SARFT (State Administration of Radio, Film and Television) posted notice on its website that it was pulling the movie’s exhibition license for distributing deleted scenes on the Internet, entering an unapproved version of the film in the Berlin Film Festival, and for engaging in improper promotion of the film. Producer Fang Li read about the fate of his film online, where he also learned that he had been banned from filmmaking for two years.

This is the first time SARFT has pulled the license of a movie already in distribution, and it's had a chilling effect on the Chinese film industry who will probably respond by retreating into the politically safe past and making even more period martial arts movies. It is also, according, to Fang, a victim of the Political Bureau’s plan to culturally clean up China before the 2008 Summer Olympics. Fang Li was kind enough to give us an interview for a piece about the movie's fate in the New York Sun which you can find here, but presented below is the complete interview.

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On January 3rd of this year, SARFT suspended the exhibition license of LOST IN BEIJING and suspended you from filmmaking for two years, over a month after the film had already been released theatrically. What happened?
This has nothing to do, really, with the censors. This is because of pressure from the top – from a very high level. That’s why it has happened before the Summer Olympics, the Chinese government wants to have so-called “clean air.” In their language, LOST IN BEIJING has created a very negative image of society. On the internet someone released a pirated copy of the film containing sexual imagery that was cut from the movie and that’s why the situation is so severe. The Propaganda Department became concerned about this and the pressure is probably coming from the Political Bureau.

The censors say that this is something they don’t want to do, but it is something no one can stop. This is the first time they have suspended an individual for something posted on the internet. Previously, when a director or producer has been banned they will call you into SARFT and have a conversation with you and notify you of the situation. They didn’t do that this time. According to my inside information, they were told that they have three days to deal with this.

SARFT has never wanted to cancel our license. All they wanted, starting from May of last year, is for us to keep it low key and not create any political events. This film is considered politically sensitive because it talks about modern reality. In general, SARFT does not want to cut any film unless they feel like there’s a threat to their job. So that’s why my language has been low key with this. When I speak to the media I just tell them “That’s not what I did,” but I do not blame anybody.

The cut sex scenes from Ang Lee’s LUST, CAUTION have also surfaced online but they haven’t faced any action from SARFT.
Everybody’s reaction in this country, hundreds of thousands of message board posts online, is questioning why not Ang Lee’s film? Why this film? Ang Lee’s film is a co-production with a state group, the producer is an official who is head of the Shanghai Film Group, so there is no way they can ban their own industry. So the private sector has to be the victim.

Why did it take the Political Bureau so long to act?
They took so long to react to the film because it took this long for it to spread on the internet. And then some official saw it and got mad. The version of LOST IN BEIJING on the internet was the same version that has appeared as a pirated copy distributed illegally. That version was a work print, the color was not graded, the sound was not mixed, the end credits were wrong, the music was wrong. It’s basically a screener that was stolen and put online. So my argument with the government is why should I be responsible for this? Something like this is their responsibility.

Their third point about the improper advertising was about a local distributor. In traditional promotion the distributor puts the word “exotic” or some other word on the ad or the poster hinting that there is sexual content to attract an audience. A local distributor did this with LOST IN BEIJING but the first week of the release SARFT called Polybona and told them to stop this, and Polybona made sure that the language was stopped. But now they have put everything on me. They never even made a phone call or checked with me and they said it’s too late for me to appeal. The decision has been made, it has been posted, they suggest to me that I just to take it.

Were there really 50 cuts made to the film before it was released?
53 cuts. They were done right before the Berlin Film Festival. I brought two versions of LOST IN BEIJING to Berlin but for the censored version there was so much delay before they allowed us to go. At the end of January we were denied permission to go to Berlin and we fought like hell. Basically there was a stand-off. The director and I went to SARFT and said no matter what we are going to Berlin. If you allow us to work together we’ll bring the censored version. If not, we’ll bring our own version. That conversation resulted in the censored version that was released in November. But at the time we had no time to finish the German and English subtitles on the cut version so we decided to screen the director’s version in Berlin.

When I came back to China I had to go to SARFT and they wanted me to write a statement about why I did this, and also to write a self-criticism. I did it twice as a compromise. So they were satisfied with my actions and that’s why they allowed us to have a theatrical release in the end.

In March, Zhang Hongsen, the deputy director of SARFT’s Film Bureau made a statement blasting several independent movies, including LOST IN BEIJING. He said, "Our directors should consciously defend the honor of the motherland." Did this affect the fate of LOST IN BEIJING?
I had many conversations with Zhang where he personally denied this quote. What he said to me is that he never said this exactly like that but that an official journalist for the Communist party misquoted him. He asked me to keep my mouth shut and not to react to the media, and so I did. Because he denies that’s what he said, what else can I say?

Right before the release of LOST IN BEIJING in China, Zhang called me to tell me not to bring this quote up again. That it’s not his opinion, that he was misquoted and there would be trouble if it came up again. So that’s why during the promotion of the movie I asked journalists not to talk about this.

There have been rumors that the delay between the November release and the January suspension was a back door deal so that the investors could make back their money. Is this true?
No, it has nothing to do with that. The movie was scheduled to be released on May 18 then right before the release the news media became hot again and got excited and because of that SARFT got worried that someone sitting at the Political Bureau wouldn’t like it. So I was called in by the President of SARFT and they gave me a warning: if you still want a release in theaters then keep your mouth shut and do not talk about the censorship issue anymore. They also wanted me to write a report guaranteeing that the release would be low key. Then they moved the scheduled release from May to August, but then we were pushed again because of the National Congress of the Communist Party in October. They wanted to clean up the cultural sector and they don’t want anything out there with a negative message about society, so they ordered us to delay again. Finally, in November, we got the green light. So you can see, the motivation for this ban is from the top.

Do you feel any of this punishment is settling scores over your involvement with SUMMER PALACE?
This has nothing to do with SUMMER PALACE at all because with SUMMER PALACE SARFT considers that I helped them. I talked to them honestly about what that movie was about so they were prepared for it. What would have been worse is if someone saw that film in the Propaganda Bureau and then someone in SARFT would have had to pay the price. So in that situation I was a big help to them so they always appreciated me. I had an open conversation to see if we could re-edit SUMMER PALACE and get it passed.

Was the success of LOST IN BEIJING due to the four celebrities in the movie?
No, the government helped us because they made too much trouble so many people know, they made sure the media and everybody knows that this year they are doing a crazy job and are cutting too many films. So between this, and the fact that the subject appeals to Chinese, we don’t have to promote the film. The more they want to ban, the more they want to cut, the more people want to see it.

How has the suspension of the film’s exhibition license affected the movie?
We cannot sell the film to TV channels, and all official DVDs have been pulled off the shelves and there are no more theater bookings. We have not recouped our investment yet. If we were not banned we could break even or make a very small profit. But now that we’re suspended there’s no chance of getting our money back – it’s going to be a loss. The release was very successful, we had 150 prints and 350 digital copies, but now we’ve lost the second run houses, the medium-sized cities, we lost the Asian rights, the import copy rights, we lost TV rights.

What does the two year ban on you working in the film industry mean? How will you support yourself?
SARFT told me that they were giving me the least punishment possible. I have some open communication with them, and basically if I do something they will pretend not to know as long as my name does not come up. So I am free to do anything I want but my company cannot submit a project to the Film Bureau and in the credits I cannot have my name.

What has the reaction been in the Chinese film industry to the suspension?
Everybody was shocked, because this is the first time a film has been released for over a month and then canceled. It’s the first time it’s ever happened in China, and everybody is shocked and everybody is worried about the future. We paid so much money not just to finish production but to do distribution. This is scary. At the moment the general reaction is that everyone has become more cautious about films telling modern stories. That’s why so many films are set in ancient China, because that's safe. Talking about today’s society is really very risky for everyone. That’s why journalists were asking me the same question, “Do you want to shoot the film telling today’s story again?” I said, “Of course.” There are so many moving stories, this is an exciting time in Chinese history, why should we stop telling stories about today? Everyone was supporting me. We should keep doing this, keep making films talking aboug the real situation, the real reality. But of course the investors are all concerned about this. That’s why the field looks tighter than before. But without pressure and pushing how can a culture be more open?

Millions of people on the internet are saying that we should have a classification system. All the filmmakers want to see this happen and it’s creating more public pressure. In 2003, they were working on a classification system and there was an internal discussion at SARFT, they formed a small working group about this. We were all hoping that before the Olympics, China would become more open, but actually the situation has gone backwards.

Is the version of LOST IN BEIJING being distributed in the United States the SARFT-approved version with the 53 cuts?
No. It's the version that played at Berlin. In theory, I’m not supposed to release a different version of the film to the international market but in practice everybody does.

Is there anything you want to say in closing?
I want to thank New York audiences. At our screening at the Tribeca Film Festival every ticket was sold out and the theaters were packed. Director Li Yu and I were totally moved. We were really happy for an American audience to read our language and see our story, to see what’s happening in China. We all think China has a big hope for the future, but we have many problems now. This story serves as a way to record our history.

(LOST IN BEIJING is playing at Cinema Village in New York)

(Danwei recounts in greater detail the censorship obstacles faced by LOST IN BEIJING