Chinese war film cancels premiere in apparent censorship

The premiere of Chinese war epic "The Eight Hundred" has been cancelled, an apparent result of censorship after an association of retired party cadres deemed it "inappropriate" ahead of Communist China's 70th anniversary.

Hailed as the Chinese "Dunkirk", the film details a story of a Chinese army unit fighting against Japanese invaders in the 1937 Battle of Shanghai during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

After consultation between the production team and other parties, the July 5 premiere was cancelled and will not be released this summer, according to a statement posted on Tuesday on the film's Weibo account, a Twitter like platform.

"The new release date will be announced at a later time," the statement said, without explaining the reasons behind the decision.

The movie had already been abruptly yanked from the Shanghai International Film Festival earlier this month due to "technical issues" -- a term often used as a euphemism for censorship.

The abrupt cancellation of the premiere fuelled speculation about the motives on social media.

"The film industry cannot go on like this," Chinese film director Jia Zhangke wrote on Weibo.

Five days before the film was removed from the festival, the Chinese Red Culture Research Association held an academic seminar on filmmaking in which the storyline of
"That should not be encouraged."