But in the final version of the film, which was released in the United States this month, Mr. Ai’s contribution was nowhere to be found. Mr. Ai said the producers told him they had decided to cut his segment after investors, distributors and other partners raised concerns about the artist’s political sensitivity in China.
“When I found out, I was very angry,” Mr. Ai said. “It was frustrating to see Western creators and institutions collaborating with Chinese censorship in such an obvious way.”
Starring Keira Knightley, Helen Mirren and Luke Wilson, “Berlin, I Love You” is part of the Cities of Love franchise, in which international directors are invited to make short, intersecting vignettes that take place in a particular city.
Claus Clausen and Edda Reiser, two of the film’s producers, confirmed Mr. Ai’s account, adding that they had fought to keep his segment in the film but ultimately felt they had no choice but to remove it.
[…] Mr. Ai said producers had submitted “Berlin, I Love You” to the Berlin Film Festival but it had been rejected, and he speculated that it was because of his involvement. A statement from the festival said it could not discuss films that were not in the program, but that “the involvement of Ai Weiwei would never be a criteria for choosing or not choosing a film.” [Source]
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei told DW why his contribution to the feature film 'Berlin, I love you' was deliberately cut out. @aiwwpic.twitter.com/wlq8Gs1tNd
The romantic drama — featuring 10 short films from 10 different directors all set in the German capital and centered on the subject of love — was released Feb. 8 in the U.S. by Saban Films. Berlin, I Love You is the latest installment in the City of Love series created by Emmanuel Benbihy, which also features Paris, je t’aime; New York, I Love You; Rio, I Love You; and Tbilisi, I Love You.
Fernando Eimbcke, Dennis Gansel, Peter Chelsom and Massy Tadjedin are among the directors that shot segments for Berlin, I Love You, which features Helen Mirren, Keira Knightley, Mickey Rourke, Diego Luna, Emily Beecham and Luke Wilson among its ensemble cast.
In 2015, Ai Weiwei directed a segment for Berlin, I Love You. As he was at the time still prevented from traveling outside of China because of his activism, the artist directed the movie by video link. The segment focused on the artist’s relationship with his son, Ai Lao, then 6 years old and living with his mother in Berlin. German star Til Schweiger (Inglourious Basterds) also had a small role in the film. Shortly after the film was shot, Ai Weiwei was allowed to leave China and moved to Berlin. [Source]
Melissa Chan first reported the editing on Deutsche Welle, where she interviewed Ai:
Ai’s and Zhang’s cases are just the latest troubling examples of China’s influence beyond its borders, showing how Beijing can flex its muscle over the arts, and on events and projects taking place thousands of miles away.
[…] The Los Angeles Times viewed an email that appeared to support Ai’s story that at least some involved in “Berlin, I Love You” believed the festival was avoiding projects associated with Ai.
“Chinese censorship has become institutionalized globally,” Ai said, “with Western partners increasingly willing to engage in this war against freedom of expression.”
Producers Clausen and Reiser described feeling embattled, with pressure from “many, many sides” to cut Ai’s portion or risk losing distributors and support, but they felt they had an obligation to the other directors and actors to move forward with a release.
“We underestimated the power of China,” Reiser said. “We were disappointed by the lack of support in the free world.” [Source]
Also @dwnews spoke to @cliffordcoonan, once The Hollywood Reporter's China correspondent:
"Censorship in China is a very inexact science. There are rules laid down but how the rules are applied are often very arbitrary. Directors and producers struggle with this."
Li Rui, a former personal secretary to Mao Zedong turned fierce critic of the authoritarian leader and his successors, died on Saturday in Beijing at age 101 from cancer-related organ failure. At The New York Times, reporting on Li’s death, Ian Johnson recalls his life as a trusted confidant to Mao; a purged Party member under remote re-education; a rehabilitated post-Mao Party bureaucrat; a sensitive historian; and finally a modern advocate for free expression, liberal values, and historical accuracy:
Blunt, brash and quick-witted, Mr. Li’s experience epitomized the hopes and disappointments of a generation. His perseverance and longevity made him one of the most influential government critics in the seven-decade history of the People’s Republic of China. His work also helped reshape historians’ understanding of key moments in modern Chinese history — especially Mao’s responsibility for the catastrophic Great Leap Forward, in which famine killed more than 35 million people — while his political connections allowed him to protect moderate critics and make open appeals for free speech and constitutional government.
But Mr. Li was no dissident. He died a Communist Party member, enjoying the privileges that came from having joined the party in 1937, earlier than almost anyone else alive in China. He had a large apartment, a generous pension and lavish benefits, such as top-flight medical care. The party imprisoned him, exiled him, and almost starved him to death, but even when it expelled him he eventually returned in hopes of effecting change from within.
“He saw himself as a conscience of the revolution and the party,” said Roderick MacFarquhar, a professor of Chinese history at Harvard University. “But he had grave doubts about the system he spent his life serving.” (Mr. MacFarquhar died on Sunday.) […] [Source]
Li’s funeral and state burial is reportedly scheduled this week at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery, a site reserved for revolutionary heroes and high-ranking officials. At The Guardian, Lily Kuo reports that Li’s daughter Nanyang Li is boycotting the official service as it goes against her father’s stated wishes, and notes that censors appear to have taken effort to mute news of his death:
“I asked him [in 2008 and again last year at his 100th birthday] the exact same question: do you want to go to Babaoshan? Do you want a formal funeral and your body to be covered by the [Chinese Communist party] flag?’” she told the Guardian.
“He paused a long long time, thinking, then he very clearly said: ‘I should go back to my hometown and be buried near my parents because I left home so early and never took care of my mother.’”
[…] Nanyang, who lives in the US, said she would not be attending the funeral in protest.
[…] [Despite his veteran cadre status,] state media did not report his death widely. Articles and comments commemorating him appeared to have been censored.
Nanyang believes her father lost hope in the party when the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, removed term limits last year, potentially allowing him to stay in power indefinitely. In one of his final interviews, given to Voice of America last year, he agreed with a turn of phrase circulating at the time: “Mao’s mistakes are not corrected and Xi accumulates his evil.” […] [Source]
Li Rui, former secretary to Chairman Mao and standard bearer of liberals within China’s Communist Party dies at 102. From San Francisco, his daughter Li Nanyang writes that she hopes China’s culture of following standard bearers will depart with him. pic.twitter.com/Eh07uK8RqE
Also on Twitter, Wilson Center fellow and China foreign policy scholar Joseph Torigian noted good news on the destination of Li’s personal files, and also highlighted the paradox of his politics:
Looks like Li Rui's personal files are going to the Hoover Archives. Absolutely great news. https://t.co/fU3MqbHVol
Indeed, truly a man of contradictions. Li Rui was often critical of the party, but while giving a talk at UC Boulder he yelled at his daughter for comparing the CCP to Hitler’s Germany in front of Americans. https://t.co/RujqtBT4hr
For example, Li Rui once suggested to Hu Yaobang that HYB hang on to a particular document that could be used later on to blackmail Hu Qiaomu. HYB refused.
In 1987, Li Rui damaged Deng Liqun's hopes for higher office by writing a letter that, among other things, included the fact that DLQ slept with Li Rui's wife in Yan'an – even though Deng had originally been assigned to investigate Li's wife.
Although Li Rui's book on Lushan is a true classic, I've gotten the sense that some of his claims on elite politics in the 1980s were more problematic, including his claim that Xi Zhongxun loudly spoke out in favor of Hu Yaobang in early 1987.
On Saturday, an Air New Zealand plane bound for Shanghai abruptly turned around in circumstances that remain unclear. Days later, the launch of a much-promoted tourism initiative planned between China and New Zealand was canceled, purportedly because of scheduling issues for Beijing, despite being planned for years.
[…] “The perception in Beijing is that New Zealand now has uncharacteristically joined the U.S. in containing China by trying to contain its technology companies — and they are prepared to retaliate,” said David Mahon, a New Zealand businessman who runs the investment management firm Mahon China and has lived in Beijing for 34 years.
He added that longtime suppliers of fresh New Zealand products to China had already faced “non-tariff impediments” at Chinese ports.
Amid the growing tensions, Huawei has begun an advertising campaign in New Zealand in which it appeals to the public over the government’s ban on having it supply technology for the country’s fifth-generation, or 5G, mobile data network. […] [Source]
New Zealand’s government is denying its relationship with China has frayed after what opposition politicians say is a series of snubs by Beijing.
New Zealand’s business ministry on Tuesday confirmed it was postponing the launch of a much-touted “China-New Zealand Year of Tourism” project because “changes of schedule on the Chinese side” meant a visiting delegation couldn’t make it to the opening ceremony in Wellington.
[…] “We see a situation right now where the Prime Minister can’t get a visit,” centre-right National Party leader Simon Bridges said, blaming what he called diplomatic carelessness.
The advertisement reads: “5G without Huawei is like rugby without New Zealand”, referring to the upcoming nationwide rollout of the mobile technology.
[…] The advertisement, in newspapers owned by Stuff and the New Zealand Herald, also claims consumers may miss out on the latest technology and end up paying more.
[…]Huawei’s advertising blitz is designed to appeal to the average New Zealander, experts say, by invoking the national sport – and religion – rugby.
[…] Over the weekend an Air New Zealand flight to China turned back to Auckland after five hours. Some reports suggested the “very unusual” incident was the result of a mention of the contested island of Taiwan in paperwork onboard the plane. [Source]
The ad also appeared on billboards:
Huawei's new rugby ad in New Zealand after regulators there blocked the company from using its 5G equipment. 10 points to the marketing agency, if not the company… pic.twitter.com/5Vebxmintu
This satire of a Huawei ad in New Zealand shows how China and Chinese firms suffer from the CCP’s atrocious policies in Xinjiang. What happens in Xinjiang doesn’t stay in Xinjiang. pic.twitter.com/ZDRdTK5obf
A report in the English-language Global Times newspaper, a tabloid arm of the Communist party’s official newspaper group, quoted a Beijing resident identified as “Li”, saying that as a result he planned to cancel his holiday to the country and go elsewhere instead.
“Is it a kind of robbery? New Zealand stabbed us in the back but asks for our money? This is double-faced,” the paper quoted him as saying.
[…] New Zealand had close to half a million Chinese tourists in 2018, make it the second-largest source of visitors after Australia. [Source]
