BEIJING: China’s box office may be booming but its domestic films are struggling to find vast audiences abroad, Asian cinema experts said Tuesday, as the world’s second-largest economy seeks soft power to match its growing economic clout. According to jury members for the Asian Brilliant Stars awards – a cinema prize held in collaboration with the Berlin Film Festival – film fans outside China are put off by Beijing’s insistence on championing politically correct movies, as well its strict censorship system. But jury member Shozo Ichiyama said he felt film distribution rather than censorship was the greatest challenge facing mainland cinema. Wong, however, remained optimistic it might only take a single talented individual to help China continue to forge its reputation abroad. “We’re just waiting for the next Jia Zhangke,” he said, referring to the Chinese director considered one of the country’s best, who won the Golden Lion for best film at the Venice film festival for “Still Life” in 2006.

Source: New Strait Times December 12, 2017 16:52 UTC