Chinese director Lou Ye risks trouble at Cannes

Of the 20 directors with films in competition for the top prize at Cannes, the Palme D'Or, one has more than his reputation at stake. By showing his latest film, Spring Fever, Lou Ye risks big trouble at home in China.

In 2006 the Chinese government slapped a five-year ban on Ye, preventing him from making any movies, after he showed his film Summer Palace at that year's Cannes festival. The production caused huge controversy in China because it depicted a graphic sexual relationship set against the background of the 1989 pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square.

But Ye has broken the ban to make Spring Fever, shooting secretly using a hand-held camera on the streets of Nanjing. And if that isn't bad enough, the content is likely to cause further uproar - because the film depicts a homosexual relationship, still taboo in Chinese society.

Ye's producer, Nai An, has said she helped produce the work knowing full well that it would anger the Chinese authorities. "But all we want to do is make films, we don't want to cause any problems," she told Agence France Presse. "China's film censorship system must change - it must at least get rid of this provision of banning filming."

One of the five actors in the film, Chen Sicheng, has said that he too was concerned about falling foul of the authorities but could not turn down the opportunity to work with Ye. "He is a pioneer, and he has the courage not to give way to society," said Chen. "The film industry is becoming more and more commercialised, but there is no one that wants to change this, to experiment."

Ye has been a troublemaker for years. His 1995 film, Weekend Lover, was prevented from being shown by the Chinese government for two years and his 2000 production, Suzhou River, landed him a two-year directing ban after he took it to the Rotterdam film festival without permission. Suzhou River has still not been seen in China, and by the look of things, Spring Fever may also never be shown in Ye's homeland.