PETALING JAYA, July 29 – The producers of “The New Village” defended today the local film as a forbidden love story set amid a turbulent historical period after its trailer sparked a storm on the Internet.

Yesterday, the home ministry suspended the movie’s release. It was scheduled to open in cinemas nationwide on August 22.

In a joint statement, Astro Shaw and Yellow Pictures, the film’s joint producers moved to clear the air amid accusations by Malay-language weekly Mingguan Malaysia that the movie aimed to “glorify” communism.

“The New Village (TNV) is a Chinese period feature film in Mandarin that depicts a forbidden love story. This Chinese movie is set against the backdrop of the struggles of the Chinese communities in the resettlement into New Villages by the British,” the two companies said in a two-paragraph statement.

The filmmakers also said TNV had been passed by government censors without any cuts almost a year ago.

It confirmed the film is now being reviewed by the Film Censorship Board for a second time.

“The movie has undergone all due processes including LPF screening, and was given a P13 classification with no cuts, in Sept 2012. Currently, The New Village is going through a second review with LPF,” they said, referring to the censorship board by its Malay initials.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the film's new release date would be decided after the second review of the film's plot.

But he also said the government would cancel its previous approval for the film if the censorship board - which comes under the home ministry - finds that it contains elements of hero worship of the Malayan Communist Party (PKM).

The Chinese-language film is directed by Wong Kew-Lit, a local award-winning filmmaker whose works have been broadcasted on both terrestrial and satellite television networks.

The 42-year-old Malaysian has bagged a number of awards including for best documentary director at the 6th Malaysian Oskar Award for a series called “My Roots”, and best TV documentary for “Malaysia My Home — Story of Sabah & Sarawak” at the Anugerah Seri Angkasa 2010.

The trailer of TNV has been playing at cinemas in the Klang Valley since a year ago but drew heated response from Malaysians.

A large number had taken to Facebook, Twitter and Youtube where they flamed the film for its purportedly racist and alleged “glorification” of communist guerilla fighters here during the emergency years that lasted from 1948 to 1960.

An estimated 500,000 Chinese in the country, then called Malaya, had been moved into new villages from 1950 as part of the colonial British government's security efforts to curb the spread of communism after World War Two.

Malaya achieved independence on August 31, 1957.

The cyberstorm over the film appeared to have been raging since a 2.20-minute clip was posted onto video-sharing site Youtube last June 5, but an op-ed piece in yesterday's Mingguan Malaysia rebuking the movie's makers may have inflamed passions further.