'' Paradise '' was originally shown in mainland theaters in the fall of 1998 ( nearly four years after production began ) , and was eventually shown in Hong Kong in December of that year ( under the title '' Take Me Off '' ) at the 1998 Mainland-Hong Kong-Taiwan Film Festival . Following Hong Kong , it reached foreign shores under the title of '' So Close to Paradise '' . The film received a Western premiere at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival as part of the Un Certain Regard competition . It would go on to win a '' ' Tiger Award ' '' for Best Film at the 2000 International Film Festival Rotterdam . Domestically , '' So Close to Paradise '' had a much more tortuous journey to cinemas . In an interview , Wang noted that as a result of the film 's unusually long gestation period , promotion of the film proved near impossible . While a few cinemas may have received the film in 1998 , no commercial release of '' So Close to Paradise '' took place . Rather , '' So Close to Paradise '' had to wait another six years to be commercially released in mainland China
1999 Cannes Film Festival
1999 Cannes Film Festival
So Close to Paradise