Chinese director Lou Ye has defied the authorities to produce controversial movie after controversial movie. But risking arrest in China may be worth it, since his newest, "Spring Fever" has now won the best screenplay award at Cannes. more ›

Wong Kar-wai is celebrating the opening of his shit movie My Blueberry Nights in the US this Friday by selling some merchandise — most notably, $95 t-shirts, $50 posters, and $25 postcards. And if you want to thank him for ripping you off in person, you'll get your chance in New York at a fashion boutique store called Opening Ceremony, where Wong is going to be on Wednesday afternoon. We hope that someone tells him that the US is facing a recession and that the real incomes are not increasing for the average American. $25 for a postcard? You can get four lattes in Manhattan for that price! Sheesh! more ›

Of how many movies of late, or any time, can you say that "it took courage to make this film"? Summer Palace (颐和园), can be safely said to be one of those films. more ›

Well, opening today in France, at least. We first told you about Summer Palace, the controversial film from Shanghai-born director Lou Ye, last May. Since then, the director of Weekend Lover (1995), Suzhou River (2000) and Purple Butterfly (2003) has been banned for five years from making films in China for submitting Summer Palace to the Cannes Film Festival before it was approved by government censors. This was Lou Ye's second ban — Suzhou River got him two years. more ›

Shanghaiist was thinking about how to characterize a movie like this: We mulled over “worst movie we’ve ever seen,” and thought this too harsh, as there are probably loads of worse movies that we’ve seen but have repressed the memory of. And we hope the same happens with this movie. more ›

Photo by 2 dogs taken from the Shanghaiist Contribute page. To see your photos on our Contribute page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site. more ›

Chinese director Lou Ye (娄烨）has run afoul of the censors at the Film Bureau for submitting his film Summer Palace (颐和园）to the Cannes Film Festival without the government's approval. Those of you familiar with the rules of the game know that this not only gets you on the blacklist, it prevents your film from getting shown in the theaters in China. However, the more we read about this situation the more confused we get. more ›