'God's Own Country' Director Claps Back at Amazon Prime for Censorship

UPDATE: After receiving clarification from Amazon, God's Own Country director Francis Lee is now clapping back at distributor Samuel Goldwyn Films for the censorship of his beloved 2017 film. Lee wasn't aware the distributor was making cuts and he warns other filmmakers about working with them.

"The rental version of God’s Own Country on @PrimeVideois the correct version of my film," Lee said in a follow-up tweet. "I would like to thank Amazon Prime for being supportive and I would caution any filmmaker of working with the aforementioned 'distributor.' Thank you EVERYONE for all your support."

Read the original story below:

The director of the critically-acclaimed, romantic queer film God's Own Country is calling for a boycott of Amazon Prime's video streaming service after reports of alleged censorship began to surface and make their way across the web. 

Francis Lee, who PRIDE had the privilege of talking to when the film was originally released back in 2017, has rightfully taken issue with the streaming service's removal of sex scenes from his film about two male, European farmworkers who fall in love.

"Dear friends in USA, God’s Own Country appears to have been censored on @PrimeVideo (Amazon Prime)," Lee said in a statement on his Twitter account. "Until this is investigated please do not rent or buy on Amazon Prime. It is not the film I intended or made."

Fans of the film were more than happy to be a part of Lee's call for a boycott. 

According to reporting from our sister publication Out, an Amazon Prime representative insists that the company themselves did not censor the film's sex scenes, but that the edited version that was available for streaming was uploaded by the provider Samuel Goldwyn Films. It's also worth noting that the version of the film that is available for purchase (not streaming) is the film's original cut and is not censored. 

The film follows Johnny (Josh O’Connor), a hardened Yorkshire man who is in charge of the labor of caring for his family’s farm and his ailing father—the likes of which seem to be taking a toll on him emotionally. But when a Romanian migrant worker named Gheorghe (Alec Secareanu) comes to lend an extra hand, his presence shakes up Johnny’s life, and the two enter a whirlwind romance. The film was notable for having a happy ending and for giving audiences a view of masculinity that can be soft, caring, gentle, tender, and compassionate. 

Groundbreaking queer art like God's Own Country deserves to be seen the way it was meant to, and not be censored, so we hope all of this mess gets sorted out quickly.