HONG KONG — Hong Kong will scrutinize past films for national security
breaches under a tough new censorship law announced on Tuesday in the latest
blow to the financial hub's political and artistic freedoms.
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Authorities have embarked on a sweeping crackdown to root out Beijing's
critics after huge and often violent democracy protests convulsed the city two
years ago.
A new China-imposed security law and an official campaign dubbed
"Patriots rule Hong Kong" has since criminalized much dissent and
strangled the democracy movement.
Authorities previously announced in June that the city's censorship board
would check any future films for content that breached the security law.
But on Tuesday they unveiled a new hardened censorship law which would also
cover any titles that had previously been given a green light.
"Any film for public exhibition, past, present, and future, will need
to get approval," commerce secretary Edward Yau told reporters.
Hong Kong's national security law bans anything authorities deem to be
secession, subversion, terrorism, or collusion with foreign forces.
Almost all those arrested under the law so far are democracy activists and a
legislative brief given to reporters on Tuesday specifically mentioned recent
documentaries that "glorified" or "incited" protests.
The new law must be approved by the city's legislature — a near certainty,
given it has been purged of any opposition over the last year.
The maximum
sentence for showing illegal films will be increased to up to
three years jail and a $130,000 fine.
Titles deemed a national security risk by censors will not be able to appeal
via the usual channels.
Instead they will have to launch a judicial review in Hong Kong's courts, a
long and costly legal procedure.
Authorities can also revoke viewing licenses of venues that show titles
deemed "contrary to the interests of national security".
The law will bring Hong Kong much closer to the Chinese mainland, where
films are rigorously vetted and only a handful of Western movies or
documentaries see a commercial release each year.
Hong Kong historically boasted a thriving film scene and for much of the
latter half of the last century, Cantonese cinema was world-class.
The city still maintains some key studios, a handful of lauded directors and
a thriving indie scene, but new political red lines are being drawn each
month.
The announcement of Tuesday's new censorship law came as Hollywood star
Nicole Kidman is filming an Amazon-funded series in the city based on a book
about the gilded lives of the city's "expats".
Authorities allowed Kidman and her film crew to skip quarantine, sparking
public anger last week.
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