 Government censors banned his first film "Weekend Lover" for two years, while his breakout film "Suzhou River" is still banned (with Lou receiving a 2-year ban from filmmaking).Later, after Lou submitted "Summer Palace" to the 2006 Cannes Film Festival without approval from Chinese censors, he was banned from film-making again, this time for five years.The film itself was also banned, though according to Lou this was because it was not up to the SARFT's standards for picture and sound quality.