Taiwan film awards highlight China cinema

Taiwan film awards highlight China cinema - San Francisco Chronicle

A dark melodrama by an oft-censored Chinese director heads entries in the best film category at Taiwan's Golden Horse Film festival, catapulting mainland cinema to center stage at the event considered the Chinese-language Oscars.

Lou Ye's "Mystery" tells the story of a mild-mannered woman who mounts a radical revenge after uncovering her husband's infidelity.

Aside from best picture award, Lou is also up for best director and Hao Lei, the female protagonist of "Mystery," is a candidate for best actress.

Lou's films, which have long focused on sensitive subjects like sex, violence and politics, have repeatedly been censored by China's cultural authorities. He was prohibited from filmmaking for five years after submitting "Summer Palace" - about a generation's awakening and disillusionment - to the Cannes Film Festival without government approval in 2006.

"Mystery" is seen as marking Lou's entry into the commercial mainstream after years on the social and artistic edge, though his Chinese microblog says that censors asked him - and he agreed - to delete some violent scenes from the film.