Censors have the facility to deem movies unsuitable for exhibition to “prevent or suppress any act or activity endangering national security,” the Hong Kong authorities mentioned in a press release.
Hong Kong Censors now have the facility to ban movies that endanger nationwide safety, prompting considerations that freedom of expression is being additional curtailed in a metropolis as soon as recognized for its vibrant arts and movie scene.
Authorities are cracking down on criticism of Chinese Communist Party rule, arresting many pro-democracy activists within the metropolis and implementing a sweeping nationwide safety legislation final yr that criminalises actions such because the requires independence throughout months of anti-government protests in 2019.
The Hong Kong authorities introduced on Friday that it has amended the rules for censors within the metropolis’s Film Censorship Ordinance to incorporate vigilance in opposition to any “portrayal, depiction or treatment of any act or activity which may amount to an offense endangering national security”.
Censors have the facility to deem movies unsuitable for exhibition to “prevent or suppress any act or activity endangering national security,” it mentioned in a press release.
“The film censorship regulatory framework is built on the premise of a balance between protection of individual rights and freedoms on the one hand, and the protection of legitimate societal interests on the other,” the federal government mentioned.
The amended ordinance takes Hong Kong a step nearer to the censorship of movies on the Chinese mainland, that are carefully vetted for themes and scenes crucial of the Communist Party’s management or that don’t align with values that the federal government seeks to espouse.
“This film censorship system shows how freedom of expression is disappearing from Hong Kong,” mentioned Anders Hammer, director of “Do Not Split,” an Oscar-nominated documentary concerning the 2019 protests in Hong Kong.
“In 2021, we have seen how the situation is deteriorating further where activists and pro-democracy politicians are put in prison, charged under the new draconian national security law,” he mentioned.
“And unfortunately, it looks like the local government and Beijing only want to continue with this dissolvement of basic democratic rights in Hong Kong,” he mentioned.
In March, organisers cancelled the screening of the documentary “Inside the Red Brick Wall” which portrays clashes between pro-democracy protesters and police at a neighborhood college, following an editorial in a pro-Beijing newspaper that mentioned the film spreads messages of subversion and will breach the nationwide safety legislation.
Censors in May additionally issued warnings to a hospital employees’ union over the screening of two movies associated to the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989, stating that it had not sought approval and that one of many movies had not been rated.
Earlier this month, Hong Kong authorities banned for a second yr the annual candlelight vigil held in remembrance of victims of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Authorities have additionally ramped up efforts to overtake the varsity system to instill “patriotism” in college students.