VENICE, Italy -- The Venice Film Festival plans to show a censored Vietnamese short film this week despite the absence of official permission to screen it outside of Vietnam.

The 20-minute film, "Khi toi 20" ("When I Am 20"), is about a teenage couple whose love story is told in the confines of a room with a low ceiling until one day the boy leaves, begging the question: Has he outgrown the space or the relationship?

Because of the censorship, the film will be shown tomorrow using a DVD sent during the selection phase rather than an official copy, the film festival said yesterday in a statement.

Venice festival officials "decided not to exclude the film from competition because we should guarantee and defend freedom of expression," the statement said.

Director Phan Dang Di, 32, will not participate in the festival.

The film was blocked by Vietnamese censors because it was considered "damaging" to Vietnam's image, and it can be officially viewed only at a center for the development and support of new talent in Hanoi that produced the film, the statement said.

The film was produced under the supervision of the Vietnamese-French director Tran Anh Hung and is in the Venice Film Festival's short film competition.

First Published: September 2, 2008, 4:00 a.m.