China pulls Vietnam border war movie from cinema holiday line-up at last minute
Director Feng Xiaogang’s tribute to veterans withdrawn in lead-up to key Communist Party gathering, industry source says
A movie tribute by one of China’s leading directors to Chinese veterans of the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese war has been pulled from cinemas after a last-minute “discussion”.
Director Feng Xiaogang’s movie Youth, or Fanghua, was scheduled to be released across China on September 29 in time for the weeklong National Day holiday.
But in a brief online statement on Sunday, Feng’s production house said the release date would be postponed as a result of “discussions with the film administration bureau and other relevant parties”.
“The new release date [of Youth] will be made public later on. We apologise to cinemas and viewers for any inconvenience caused,” the statement said.
The movie tells the story of a military dance troupe during the Cultural Revolution and China’s brief border war with Vietnam.
Ticket sales and promotion for the movie were already under way.