Hong Kong director of documentary on 2019 protests hits out at ‘self-censorship’ after cinema chain scraps romance drama rescreening

A Hong Kong director known for his controversial documentary on the 2019 anti-government protests has hit out at “self-censorship” in the city, calling a decision by a cinema chain to abruptly cancel the rescreening of one of his films “absurd”.

MCL Cinemas on Tuesday afternoon announced the cancellation of the special showings of Kiwi Chow Kwun-wai’s Beyond the Dream, a romantic drama released in 2019, at its Tsim Sha Tsui outlet. It offered refunds for the two sessions, previously set for June 15 and 28, but did not cite any reasons for the move.