China wants soft power. But censorship is stifling its film industry

edition.cnn.com/2019/03/21/asia/china-cultural-soft-power-intl/index.html
 
In 2014, President Xi Jinping called for a stronger national effort to boost China’s global popularity in proportion to its economic rise. “We should increase China’s soft power, give a good Chinese narrative and better communicate China’s message to the world,” he said. But nnless the Communist Party relaxes its censorship of domestic films, experts say Beijing’s dreams of wielding Chinese soft power globally through its film industry could stall.
 
The US film industry is quite successful in China — likely to become the world’s largest cinema market in coming years, according to industry insiders — even though regulators only allow a limited number of foreign films to be screened each year.
 
China has not enjoyed the same success in Western markets. Italian film director Gianluigi Perrone says that is because while Hollywood films often also carry a patriotic message, it is done with greater subtlety.
 
“The ‘soft power’ in US films has been very subliminal and subtle since the post-WW2 era,” says Perrone, who has experienced censorship in China. “The messages in Chinese films have to be so explicit that it’s too direct for Western audiences. It overcomes the entertaining part.”
Consequently, some independent filmmakers who want to create more nuanced films are bypassing the domestic market.
 
Even huge popularity is no longer enough to save a director or a seemingly anodyne piece of entertainment from the censor’s gaze.