China Approves Film Centering Gay Relationship for First Time Ever

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After a year of deliberation, China’s film regulators have approved the release of Wang Chao’s Seek McCartney, reports THR.

An international co-production, Seek McCartney follows the clandestine relationship between two men, one Chinese (portrayed by well-known singer and actor Han Geng) and one French (played by French actor Jeremy Elkaim).

Though Seek McCartney will not be the first film to make it past Chinese censors that depicts gay characters—the Hollywood Reporter cites The Dead End, in which two men kiss, as an example—it is the first to actually center on an LGBT love story. Advocacy groups are celebrating the decision as an important turning point in the country’s relationship with gay rights, although censorship remains both alive and notoriously arbitrary.

Seek McCartney will be released in Chinese theaters this winter.