China’s Office of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace has banned Tencent from broadcasting the 35th annual Hong Kong Film Awards online. CCTV has also backed out of broadcasting the event.

The ban, which was confirmed by Derek Yee Tung-sing, Chairman of the Hong Kong Film Awards Association, is widely believed to be a result of the hugely successful feature, Ten Years, which has garnered a Best Picture nomination.

Made on a shoestring budget of HK$50,000, Ten Years depicts a dystopic Hong Kong where citizens face a loss of political rights and a degradation of their culture. The film, which took in a whopping HK$6 million, was so successful that it beat out Star Wars: The Force Awakens at some theaters.

The film features a number of shorts produced by local directors offering their take on what Hong Kong might look like should the mainland government continue to tighten its grip over the former British colony.

Global Times called the film “ridiculous”, alleging the film is spreading anxiety among Hong Kong residents. In an interview with Time Out Hong Kong, filmmaker Chow Kwun-wai addressed the controversy head-on: “Many people react to Ten Years and ask us ‘aren’t you guys afraid?’ I think this question, in itself, reflects what problem our society is facing.”

Director Ng Ka-leung, who’s short includes an act of self-immolation as a form of protest, explained that in many ways, the future is already here:

In the past few years, we’ve seen some pretty bad realities in Hong Kong. Realities that are extremely absurd and illogical. So, when you ask whether the future could be as bad as we imagine in the film, I think it’s possible. There is real precedent for the events that we portray in the film.

Here’s a trailer for the movie: