‘Call Me By Your Name’ pulled from Beijing Film Festival lineup
The Oscar-winning drama has been removed from the schedule.
Call Me By Your Name has been pulled from the lineup of a leading film festival in China.
The acclaimed gay drama, which was nominated for numerous awards and won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, was pulled from the Beijing International Film Festival.
The movie, an adaptation of André Aciman’s novel of the same name, tells the story of 17-year-old, Elio (Timothée Chalamet), who embarks on a relatonhip with a graduate student named Oliver (Armie Hammer) in northern Italy in the summer of 1983.
It’s currently unknown why the movie was pulled from the film festival.
A source confirmed the news to the Hollywood Reporter: “It was on our original lineup, but it has since been removed.”
When asked why the film may have been removed, the source implied the instruction had come from the government, saying: “The Beijing festival has always followed the guidelines of those at the top.”
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the decision comes as the Chinese Communist Party tightens control over all areas of the government, including the regulation of media and entertainment.
Homosexuality isn’t illegal in China, but gay-themed content has been banned from television for several years.
Reports state that China was allowed to run the uncensored verson of Disney’s live action remake of Beauty and the Beast, which featured a brief gay moment, but any film featuring an openly gay protagonist has been barred from screening in the country.
The change in programming comes just three weeks before the Beijing Film Festival opens on April 15.