Visible absence of porcelain on the skin.

The up-and-down emotion of Cruise 2022 in Cannes was palpable as the global film industry continues to come together to celebrate cinema after two difficult years of the Korovirus pandemic. But one of the biggest players in the film industry is clearly absent: China.

The most direct reason for the near-total absence of Chinese industry, of course, is the country’s external focus on the pandemic. Shanghai, Beijing and more than a dozen other major Chinese cities are experiencing varying degrees of lockdown as Xi Jinping’s government maintains its “dynamic zero covid” strategy and the number of Chinese buyers and sellers at the festival is reduced throughout. of years. Previously in 2022 just rare.

However, Beijing industry experts say a less visible but all too familiar factor is also at work: punitive policies.

Midway through last year’s Cannes program, the festival informed international media that a discreet last-minute addition was expected. Directed by Kiwi Chow’s The revolution of our time., A heavy documentary filming the massive pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2019 and the subsequent brutal police crackdown was shown in the Palais’ Salle du Soixantième. Kan did not explain the radar nature of the film’s screening, but it was widely interpreted as an attempt to protect Chinese industry participants from pressure to leave the event. The future consequences of Cannes handing over the platform in what Beijing considers extremely politically sensitive were unclear, although, as a veteran Chinese buyer said, he asked not to be identified due to the incendiary nature of the deal. soon forget it.”

After screening the protest document, Chinese buyers said THR That the official told them that any film that appears in the official Cannes selection will not be censored if it is purchased and presented for distribution by a local distributor. Meanwhile, no Chinese films are shown in the festival’s official 2022 selection or sidebar (only a few Chinese shorts are offered this year).

Prior to the festival, the two-day directors sidebar was famous for the animated feature film section of Chinese director Liu Jian. portrait of an artist like a young manDubbing by Chinese author and Canon regular, Jia Zhanke. The film was expected to be released at the last minute as a surprise, but it never made it to France. The official line from the film’s producers is that it could not be completed due to the partial COVID lockdown in Beijing. But sources of contact with the people involved in the project say THR That it would be better to get the necessary government permissions to screen in Cannes even if it was ready (complaints about project completion issues or unspecified “technical issues” were regularly used as a euphemism for censorship issues in the past).

One of the few Chinese cinema figures at Cannes this year is also the main star, actor Tan Wei (passion caution, find the right man). He stars in South Korean master Park Chan-wook’s romantic crime drama. the decision to leaveOne of the most anticipated titles of this year’s competition. Sources close to the film say he plans to participate in the palace screening, though Beijing officials are unhappy with everything on the skin (not to mention the bold optics that shine through Cკოte’s bright red carpet in the sun). d’Azur while much of China is under heavy lockdown. But Tang is not for novice critics: Early in her career, she suffered a lengthy official ban from filming after regulators protested her performance in the sexually explicit World War II drama. Ang Lee’s World War. passion, caution. Tang later pursued a career in China, but in 2014 she married Korean director Kim Tae-yong and now lives mainly in Seoul. She adds one of the few Chinese producers at Cannes this year: “Tang Wei still has big business and family interests in China, but he has less to lose than some.”