I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

: 黑眼圈 Hēi yǎn quān) is a 2006 Malaysian

Cinema of Malaysia

The cinema of Malaysia revolves around a small film industry that dates back to the 1930s. At present, Malaysia produces about 20 feature films annually, and between 300–400 television dramas and serials a year apart from the in-house productions by the individual television stations. Malaysia also...

-Taiwanese

Cinema of Taiwan

The history of Chinese-language cinema has three separate threads of development: Cinema of Hong Kong, Cinema of Mainland China and Cinema of Taiwan . Taiwanese cinema grew up outside of the Hong Kong mainstream and the censorship of the People's Republic of China.Taiwanese cinema is deeply rooted...

 romantic

Romance film

Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...

-drama film

Drama film

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 written and directed by Tsai Ming-liang

Tsai Ming-liang

Tsai Ming-liang is one of the most celebrated "Second New Wave" film directors of Taiwanese Cinema, along with earlier contemporaries such as Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Edward Yang...

. Lee Kang-sheng

Lee Kang-sheng

Lee Kang-sheng is a Taiwanese actor, film director, and screenwriter. He has appeared in all of Tsai Ming-liang's feature films. Lee's directorial efforts include The Missing in 2003 and Help Me Eros in 2007.-Career:...

 stars in a dual role as a brain-dead patient being cared for by a young woman (Chen Shiang-chyi

Chen Shiang-chyi

Chen Shiang-chyi is a film actress from Taiwan.She has had starring roles in several of Tsai Ming-liang's films, including What Time Is It There?, Goodbye, Dragon Inn, The Wayward Cloud, and I Don't Want to Sleep Alone....

), and as a homeless man who is severely beaten by a mob, and then found and cared for by a Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

i migrant worker

Migrant worker

The term migrant worker has different official meanings and connotations in different parts of the world. The United Nations' definition is broad, including any people working outside of their home country...

 (Norman Atun).

Censorship in Malaysia

The Malaysian Censorship Board on 4 March 2007 decided to ban Tsai's film shot in Malaysia, I Don't Want to Sleep Alone based on 18 counts of incidences shown in the film depicting the country "in a bad light" for cultural, ethical and racial reasons. However, they later allowed the film to be screened in the country after Tsai agreed to censor parts of the film according to the requirements of the Censorship Board.

Release

I Don't Want to Sleep Alone was among several films commissioned by Peter Sellars

Peter Sellars

Peter Sellars is an American theatre director, noted for his unique contemporary stagings of classical and contemporary operas and plays...

' New Crowned Hope Festival in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 in 2006, to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...

.

The film had its world premiere on September 4, 2006 at the 64th Venice International Film Festival

64th Venice International Film Festival

The 64th Venice International Film Festival, held in Venice, Italy, opened on August 29, 2007, with Joe Wright's Atonement and closed September 8, 2007. Host of the event was Italian soubrette Ambra Angiolini. The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to American director Tim...

. It made its North American premiere on September 11 at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival

2006 Toronto International Film Festival

The 2006 Toronto International Film Festival ran from September 7 to September 16, 2006. Opening the festival was Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn's The Journals of Knud Rasmussen, a film that "explores the history of the Inuit people through the eyes of a father and daughter."In a press release...

. It was also screened at the Vancouver International Film Festival

Vancouver International Film Festival

The Vancouver International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for two weeks in late September and early October...

, the Pusan International Film Festival

Pusan International Film Festival

Busan International Film Festival , held annually in Haeundae-gu, Busan , South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia...

, the London Film Festival

London Film Festival

The BFI London Film Festival is the UK's largest public film event, screening more than 300 features, documentaries and shorts from almost 50 countries. The festival, , currently in its 54th year, is run every year in the second half of October under the umbrella of the British Film Institute...

, the Festival of Three Continents, the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival

London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival

The London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival takes place every spring in London, England. It began as a season of gay and lesbian films at the National Film Theatre in 1986 and 1987 under the title "Gay's Own Pictures", curated by Peter Packer of the Tyneside Cinema, and was renamed the London...

 the Deauville Asian Film Festival

Deauville Asian Film Festival

The Deauville Asian Film Festival takes place annually in Deauville, France since 1999 and focuses on Asian cinema...

 and the Hong Kong International Film Festival

Hong Kong International Film Festival

The Hong Kong International Film Festival is a platform for filmmakers, film professionals and filmgoers from all over the world to launch and experience new film work. There are seminars, conferences, exhibitions, and parties celebrating the festival community...

.

It opened in general release in Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

 on March 23, 2007, and after a censorship

Censorship

thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...

 controversy in Malaysia, a version specially edited by director Tsai Ming-liang

Tsai Ming-liang

Tsai Ming-liang is one of the most celebrated "Second New Wave" film directors of Taiwanese Cinema, along with earlier contemporaries such as Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Edward Yang...

 opened in Malaysian cinemas on May 17, 2007.

The film had a limited release in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 on May 9, 2007, and was released in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

on November 16, 2007.