Seek McCartney will become the first gay film to show in Chinese theaters later this year.

The Chinese/French co-production, starring popular singer Han Geng and award-winning actor Jérémie Elkaïm, passed censors in its entirety after a year of deliberation.

Director Wang Chao hailed the decision as ‘a small step for the regulator and a big step for filmmakers.’

‘It was not easy, but was delightful,’ he wrote on Weibo.

Another 2015 film, The Dead End, features a passionate kiss between two male actors and passed censors earlier this year.

But screenwriter and film critic Cheng Qingsong said Seek McCartney was ‘China’s first film about a gay relationship in the true sense.’

Other LGBTI films such as Brokeback Mountain, although banned from cinemas, are available on video-streaming sites.

China’s media watchdog removed homosexuality from its list of pornographic and vulgar content in 2010.