Amazon show with Hong Kong protest scenes not shown in city / Photo: Theo Wargo - GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
-
Jimenez rescues dramatic Wolves draw in Championship opener
-
Hurricane poised to hit Hawaii as El Nino stirs Pacific
-
Taliban govt to mark five years ruling Afghanistan
-
Ex-Cambridge professor at centre of plagiarism scandal found dead
-
Stocks slip in cautious trading after weak US retail sales data
-
Wildfire threatens Canada wine region
-
Gramercy Networks Announces New Global Ultra-Low Latency Financial Network Connecting Major Trading Hubs
-
'Normal guy' turned killer over US insurance industry grievances
-
NFL bans Falcons defender Pearce eight games for domestic violence
-
Norway's hurdles king Warholm wins fourth European title
-
US says 19 million recalled eggs pose deadly risk
-
Liverpool deal with Bezos consortium raises stakes in US battle for Premier League power
-
Former Cincinnati contenders suffer contrasting first-round fates
-
Colombia hopes for miracles as search for quake victims goes on
-
Argentina's Romero confirms Tottenham exit as Atletico move looms
-
Popovici, Quadarella mine more gold at Europeans as Marchand flexes in butterfly
-
Homeless, jobless: Colombia quake survivors 'left with nothing'
-
'I shot Mr Thompson': Stunning confession in US health exec's slaying
-
Cubans find rest on rooftops as blackouts drive them from home
-
San Francisco to host 2028 MLB All-Star Game
-
World champ McIntosh crashes out of Pan Pacs 400m free
-
Trump dismisses concerns over conditions on US aircraft carrier
-
T'Wolves set Garnett celebration for Celtics clash
-
Zambia resumes vote count after pause over violence
-
Popovici nails freestyle double with third men's European 200m gold
-
Wind spurs forest fire in western Germany, with scores evacuated
-
Premier League club Liverpool sell minority stake to Jeff Bezos consortium
-
Pakistan captain Babar in injury scare ahead of England opener
-
Italian police recover stolen Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse works
-
Mangione admits shooting health care CEO
-
Stocks slip in cautious trading, oil turns higher
-
UN warns sanctions chill is stopping Cuba aid
-
Colombia quake survivor faces life without triplet sisters
-
Alleged US healthcare CEO killer says will plead guilty to stalking
-
Bones of medieval kings saved from Spanish wildfire
-
France's Macron in hot water over jet ski picture
-
US retail sales weakest in over a year, consumer sentiment plunges
-
Nursing federation demands proper pay, protection on Ebola front line
-
In wildfire town, PM says UK must 'face up to climate change'
-
France upholds assisted dying law, strikes down social media ban for children
-
In town hit by wildfire, PM says UK must 'face up to climate change'
-
Body found after wildfire hits Croatian coastal town
-
UK parliament probe into Farage resumes after polls win
-
Arteta expects Maresca to do an 'unbelievable job' at Man City
-
Italian police recover stolen Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse worth 9 mn euros
-
Stocks tread water with eyes on oil price
-
Prize money 'critical' for athletics, says Coe
-
US retail sales weakest in over a year in July
-
WHO decries lack of justice over 10,000 attacks on health care
-
Israel calls for police to replace military in handling West Bank settlers
Amazon show with Hong Kong protest scenes not shown in city
A new television series starring Nicole Kidman and featuring scenes of Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests debuted on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, but could not be accessed in the Chinese city where it was partly filmed.
"Expats" revolves around the lives of three American women -- including a protagonist played by Kidman, who is also an executive producer -- in the former British colony in 2014, according to Amazon.
Created by Chinese-born American filmmaker Lulu Wang based on a 2016 novel, its first two episodes were listed as "currently unavailable" for viewers based in Hong Kong.
According to early reviews of the show, its penultimate episode -- set to be aired on February 16 -- includes scenes recreating Hong Kong's 2014 Umbrella Movement: a 79-day occupation of main thoroughfares to oppose Beijing's restrictive election rules.
Amazon's website on Friday listed the show's country availability as "worldwide".
AFP has contacted Amazon as well as Hong Kong authorities for comment.
Five years after the Umbrella Movement, Hong Kong saw fresh protests that were massive and at times violent, with demonstrators taking to the streets to call for greater freedoms.
Beijing clamped down on dissent in 2020 by imposing a national security law on Hong Kong, which critics say has affected the city's artistic and cultural freedom, and tightened censorship.
In 2021, Hong Kong also passed censorship laws forbidding broadcasts that might breach the national security law.
Censors have since ordered directors to make cuts to their films and refused permission for others to be shown.
While those rules do not cover streaming services, authorities have warned that online platforms are still subject to the national security law, which criminalises the broadly defined crimes of subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.
Episodes from "The Simpsons" that satirised the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown and forced labour in China were previously found to be missing from the Disney+ streaming service in Hong Kong.
"Expats" -- partly filmed in Hong Kong in 2021 -- sparked controversy then when Kidman was allowed to shoot scenes without having to follow quarantine rules, which at the time were among the strictest in the world.
M.A.Colin--AMWN
