the drama The Kingdom of God (God's Own Country, in the original title) is one of the great successes of British independent cinema of 2017. The award-winning film, written and directed by Francis Lee, shows the romance of two men in the English countryside and raises discussions about love between gays in the context of secrecy.
Approximately three years later - last Tuesday (19), more specifically -, Lee accused Amazon Prime Video of “censoring” sex and nudity scenes from the film, currently available in the United States catalog on Amazon streaming.
The director wrote a request to fans on Twitter: “Until this is investigated, please do not rent or buy the film on Amazon Prime. It's not what I wanted to do or did. I’ll be back with news.”
The next day, Lee updated the story saying that the scenes had actually been cut by the film's US distributor, Samuel Goldwyn Films.
“After the investigation, The Kingdom of God it was not censored by Prime Video, but by the distributor, who massacred the streaming version without consulting me to make more 'profit'”, he wrote.
Lee also said that Amazon Prime Video was helpful in resolving the issue. And he told Samuel Goldwyn: “I would advise any filmmaker to beware of working with the 'distributor' mentioned above. Thank you all for the support".
Dear friends in USA, God's Own Country appears to have been censored on @PrimeVideo (Amazon Prime). Until this is investigated please do not rent or buy on Amazon Prime. It is not the film I intended or made. I will report back ❤️
— Francis Lee (@strawhousefilms) May 20, 2020
Dear USA friends, after investigation God's Own Country was not censored by @PrimeVideo (Amazon USA) but by the US distributor @GoldwynFilms who butchered the streaming version without consultation to get more 'revenue' .@PrimeVideo were incredibly supportive in rectifying 1/2 https://t.co/xDQP4ThaiK
— Francis Lee (@strawhousefilms) May 20, 2020
The rental version of God's Own Country on @PrimeVideo is the correct version of my film. I would like to thank Amazon Prime for being supportive and I would caution any film maker of working with the aforementioned 'distributor'. Thank you EVERYONE for all your support ❤️
— Francis Lee (@strawhousefilms) May 20, 2020
