China pulls foreign flicks to set table for party fare

By Elaine Kurtenbach | Associated Press
June 17, 2006

Move over, Da Vinci Code: The communist flick fest is coming to China.

China suddenly pulled the blockbuster film last week, saying it needed to make room for local movies. It turns out that a whole slew of them is on the way.

The country is planning to release 26 films to mark the 85th birthday of the Chinese Communist Party, the official Xinhua News Agency reported this week.

Although China has relaxed many social controls in the past few decades and seen an influx of foreign books, movies and other products, the ruling Communist Party still controls most public media. China limits film imports to 20 a year in an effort to protect its state-run studios.

The communist film fest is slated to run from Tuesday through July 10. The films include The Forest Ranger, featuring a ranger who dies protecting a state-owned forest, and The Backbone, a documentary about communist heroes.