A Beijing international film festival has pulled Call Me By Your Name by its gay themes.
The Oscar-winning gay romance was scheduled to be shown in its program.
The film’s banning comes as China has been criticized for its censorship of homosexuality in TV and film.
Sony Pictures Entertainment told Reuters the film had been withdrawn from the Beijing International Film Festival set for April.
While no official reason was given, critics believe it is because of the gay themes of the film.
Call Me By Your Name follows a 17-year-old boy and an older student falling in love in Italy.
It was pulled after the screening proposal submitted was not ‘approved by regulators’.
The film was originally intended to be screened on 16 March.
‘This movie is in deviation from the policy environment in China,’ said Wu Jian, a Beijing-based film analyst.
He said it was ‘quite embarrassing for China’ that it had been pulled.
Beijing film festival censored LGBTI content
China has a long history of censoring some, but not all, LGBTI content.
A LGBTI conference in the western city of Chengdu was called off in July last year after the venue canceled the booking.
And in last May, lesbian dating app Rela was also shut down.
A blacklist of banned audiovisual online content last year also included homosexuality.
Parliament this month voted to scrap term limits for President Xi Jinping and hand control over film, news and publishing to the Communist Party’s publicity department.
