Taiwan censor approves Scud's controversial gay drama, "Amphetamine"

A production still from "Amphetamine." Photo Credit: Artwalker Productions

Following its world premiere in Berlin's Panorama section, a closing-night screening at the Hong Kong International Film Festival, gay drama AMPHETAMINE by Scud is slated for an August 13 release in Taiwan. Distributor Zeus Film will release the film nationwide with a minimum of 12 copies. The Taiwanese censorship body has cleared the film for public screenings with no cuts required.

"This is a good demonstration of Taiwan's openness versus Hong Kong's tendency towards conservatism," comments Scud, who self-released his previous feature PERMANENT RESIDENCE in Taiwan. "While Taiwan is more open in dealing with homosexuality than Hong Kong, the graphic depiction of such a long-time taboo in my films is actually still new to them."

The Hong Kong Television and Licensing Authority demanded five cuts in an explicit male rape scene for AMPHETAMINE's local theatrical release on April 8. Their rulings seemed to object to depicting the victim's pain, rather than the rape itself, which was left intact. The controversy sparked a debate in Chinese newspapers Ming Pao and Apple, and Time Out Hong Kong.

A production still from "Amphetamine." Photo Credit: Artwalker Productions

Media Luna New Films' Ida Martins has sold AMPHETAMINE to Pro-Fun for the German-speaking territories, Clip Arte in Greece, and Optimale in France. AMPHETAMINE has been selected for the upcoming Puchon and Chicago festivals.

Scud's own prolific production company Artwalker is already putting the finishing touches to the filmmaker's fourth feature LOVE ACTUALLY...SUCKS.

A production still from "Love Actually Sucks". Photo Credit: Artwalker Productions

The film is inspired by real life cases of love gone bad: a brother and sister in love, a married painter falling for his male model, a lesbian couple lost in paranoid role-play, and some deadly love triangles. Editing and color grading is currently being done by William Chang Suk Ping, a frequent collaborator of auteur Wong Kar-Wai. LOVE ACTUALLY...SUCKS is expected to be finished by late summer.

Website: www.artwalker.org