Scenes Of Hong Kong - Beijing 2008 Olympics Equestrian City (Photo : Getty Images)
China Central Television (CCTV) announced on Tuesday that it would not air the annual Hong Kong Film Awards on April 3. It would be the first time the state-owned broadcaster would not show the much-awaited special since CCTV started to air it in 1991.
Tencent, China’s Internet giant, also said on the same day that it would not broadcast the show even if it has a contract with the Hong Kong Film Awards Association to air it over its QQ streaming video service. CCTV told its decision to the association on Saturday, reported China Entertainment News.
The reason behind the decision of CCTV and Tencent is a futuristic dark political drama, “Ten Years,” has been nominated in the award’s best picture category. The very low-budget film, produced with only $75,000, is made up of five short films set in 2025, with the theme of life in Hong Kong after Beijing takes control over the island-state’s government.
The movie was released in Hong Kong on Dec. 17, exhibited on Broadway Cinematheque. It was screened only in that cinema, but its box office was higher than the local per-screen average of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which opened the following day. Two more moviehouses later showed “Ten Years” which grossed almost $1 million.
Tencent and CCTV were actually following a ban on the broadcast of the award’s night – held since 1982 – by the Central Leading Group for Internet Security and Informatization.
In response to the group’s decision, Derek Tung-Sing Yee, chairman of the award association’s board of directors, said, “It’s a pity that the Chinese audience won’t be able to watch the awards, but it’s understandable,” quoted Apple Daily newspaper in Hong Kong.
Despite the association’s loss of about $643,000 in online broadcasting fee, Yee said. “We can understand why this film exists and why this has become an issue.”
Hong Kong Free Press explained that the reason why Beijing do not want mainland resident to even have a glimpse of the movie is that it “speaks to Hong Kong’s worst fear.” However, the Hong Kong newspaper noted that Global Times, a state-owned daily, had a scathing review of the film which it described as a “virus of the mind.”
