Third time unlucky for maverick director Lou

Director Lou Ye is putting a brave face on his latest failure to win the coveted Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Lou, who competed at Cannes despite a five-year ban on filmmaking by Chinese authorities, yesterday won only the best screenplay award for Spring Fever (Chunfeng Chenzui de Yewan), a film involving a homosexual relationship.

It is the third time Lou has missed out on the top prize - the previous two were with Purple Butterfly (Zi Hudie) and Summer Palace (Yiheyuan)- but he believes the "freedom" to make films means more than awards for today's Chinese directors.