●Opening at Togeki Theater and other cinemas across Japan from Saturday, Dec 15　
Official Website: www.astaire.co.jp/shokubutsu　(Japanese)
　
Profile:　Dai Sijie
Dai was born in Fujian, China in 1954. With an overseas study scholarship from the Chinese government in hand, he enrolled in the French National Film School, La Femis (IDEHC, at the time) in 1984 for graduate study and has lived in France ever since. In 1989, his first full-length film "China, My Sorrow" was shown at Cannes Film Festival and won the Prix Jean Vigo. He made his writing debut in 2000 with the book Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, which soon became a bestseller. In 2002, his film of the same title was nominated for the Golden Globe awards as the Best Foreign Language Film, and in 2006 his newest film "The Chinese Botanist's Daughters" was awarded Best Artistic Contribution by audiences at the Montreal World Film Festival.

(Warning: This interview contains potential spoilers.) 　

-- I heard that due to the fact that the movie was about love between two women, the government would not allow for it to be filmed there. Also, they won't allow it to be shown.

Exactly. I did gain permission to film my first movie in China, but unfortunately they never allowed its distribution. At the time, I was extremely saddened; I just felt terrible about it. Even though my movies are about people in China and made by a Chinese man born and raised in China, they can't be shown there. It's such nonsense!

-- That's certainly ironic!

You said it. However, even with experiences like that, I couldn't stop myself from making the films that I want to make.

-- We can see that the filming and distribution of your movie were not permitted in China, but I wanted to ask - just how taboo is homosexuality there?

Extremely taboo, I think. Lately they've become a bit more tolerant than before, but people who accepting of LGBT persons are are still a minority, Also, in China, love between two women is seen with considerably more contempt than that between two men. Since men are at the very top of the social hierarchy, even when they are gay they are given a lot more social leeway than women are.

-- I see. Were there any dangers for you when making this film?

No, I don't think so. In actuality, I have returned to China a number of times since making this movie, and each time I was able to enter with no problem; China has really changed a lot lately. If this had been any time earlier than now, I would clearly have been punished. Honestly speaking, nowadays they prefer to make it so that these things 'don't exist', rather than punish them. Since China is such a huge and powerful country, if something is not published or shown there, then pretty much it, in effect, doesn't exist.

translated by rayna