China's movie regulators have approved the showing of "Seek McCartney," the first movie to ever feature gay characters in leading roles. The movie was co-produced in China and France following the story of a gay couple-one Chinese and one French-in a secret cross-cultural relationship.

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Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Wang Chao, "Seek McCartney" stars Chinese singer Han Geng and French actor Jeremie Elkaim. The movie is produced by French financier Oliver Aknin.

Wang announced the approval on Weibo saying, "This is a small step for the film department, and a big step for the members of the film industry."

In 2014, Wang's film "Fantasia" competed in Cannes Film Festival's Un Certain Regard category.

Sources from the Chinese state press said that it took one year before the censors arrived at the decision.

Local film critic Cheng Qingsong told Chinese daily Global Times that the movie is "China's first film about a gay relationship in the true sense...this is a big step forward [for China's film industry]."

Earlier this year, the Chinese film "The Dead End" passed the watchdog despite having a kissing scene between two male actors.

However, a word of caution was given by filmmaker and LGBTQ activist Fan Popo telling the Associate Foreign Press, "China's system for evaluating films is still very unstable, because the rules are very unclear. It depends heavily on the individual censor's whims."

In 1997, China decriminalized homosexuality and in 2001 it was removed from the list of mental illnesses by the Ministry of Health. In, 2010 the movie regulators removed homosexuality from their list of taboo subjects that are too vulgar or pornographic for the public.

TagsFirst Chinese gay movie, China approves first gay movie, Seek McCartney, Wang Chao, Han Geng