Violent action or political cause? Hong Kong screening of the scary film ‘Winnie the Pooh’ has been cancelled
HONG KONG: The release of the horror film Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey , which was supposed to open in Hong Kong this week, has been cancelled, its distribution company said on Tuesday.
The decision to withdraw the screening of the British-produced film with horrific and violent action, however, did not clearly state the reason, Reuters reported .
VII Pillars Entertainment announced via their Facebook page that they ‘regretfully’ had to cancel the premiere as scheduled on March 23.
The content censor board in China had previously started to be ‘sensitive’ to the film’s main character, who was originally a character created by British author AA Milne. It follows the spread of a meme on the Internet that compares the character of the bear with the President of China, Xi Jinping.
The comparison began in 2013 when Xi visited the United States to meet Barack Obama. The encounter has sparked online commentary comparing them to Pooh and Tigger.
Some parties have also used the image of Pooh as a sign of resistance.
The Hong Kong government has so far not given any feedback on the matter.
Meanwhile, the organizers of the screening Moviematic on Tuesday announced the cancellation of the screening due to ‘technical problems’. The link to purchase tickets online is also no longer working.
Hong Kong’s new censorship laws came into force in 2021, which saw several films banned from screening in the Chinese special administrative region.
Among the reasons often used in every act of censorship and banning is to curb films that have elements of ‘promoting, supporting, worshiping, encouraging and triggering activities that may affect national security’.
