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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Director Feng Xiaogang’s tribute to veterans withdrawn in lead-up to key Communist Party gathering, industry source says

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Youth, a movie by director Feng Xiaogang, has been withdrawn from Chinese cinemas ahead of the National Day holidays. Photo: Handout

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”.

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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.

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Ticket sales and promotion for the movie were already under way.

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