China is getting serious about movies, or the importance for a country to have a strong film industry
April, 19; 2025. By Arscodex
White snake 2019 movie still
This can be seen in the 2019 animated film about the Chinese legend White Snake, a very apt film that accurately narrates the events surrounding the legend. A recent approach that deliberately and unapologetically seeks to show the world the preciousness and wisdom of its ancient culture.
Let's turn the kaleidoscope around and focus on another aspect. For as long as cinema has existed, the United States, that other country, has been well aware that cinema has been (and continues to be, whether through films themselves or through the more modern television series format) a key issue for the commercial and cultural development of a country. Hence the strength and determination to "be principal" in cinematographic terms for the United States, through its main production center, Hollywood, a fact that has been fulfilled "to the letter" during the last 20th century, as we have said.
Now let's turn the kaleidoscope once more. This fact, the importance of cinema for a country, has been well recognized by the one who writes these lines, who is also a film producer, yes, Pedro Alonso Pablos, and he has made an effort to offer his cinematic vision, which, as we all know, is comprised of that group of films made using the technique known as "solo filmmaking." All this is already known to the reader. Well, even though his own country, through his closest family and a number of other people, has made an effort to declare the author "crazy" (without success), as Pedro has already said on numerous occasions in this medium; Even though this fact has occurred, we say, his own country is benefiting from the cinematic work of the author, and even boasts of it as a whole, since it has incorporated it into its cultural heritage (nowadays we shouldn't fool ourselves and it's necessary to take Pedro's work into account within the past, present, and future of the entire world of cinema), but paradoxically, it hasn't collaborated in the development of Pedro's cinematic discourse; quite the opposite, as I'm already commenting in these very lines, even though his country, Spain, is benefiting directly from the effort and productive muscle of the author.
Life, things, history, are contradictory, capricious, as we all know: as far as cinema is concerned, we can say that the global importance of Spanish cinematic production before the appearance on the face of the earth of Pedro's work, minor and/or realistic in tone, is inversely proportional to the importance of the author's work. And yet, the country as a whole is benefiting from it, paradoxically.
Let's also mention, albeit briefly, the production efforts of the Land of the Rising Sun, Japan, which also identifies the development of the animated film industry as a key player, in this case through its offering, anime.
All of this is relevant, without trying to distract from these lines, from the initial thoughts mentioned therein, namely, the importance of cinema (animated, where legends take shape and blend with reality) for a country and therefore the need for China to have a strong animated film industry, a fact they have recently recognized and are trying to get as close to as possible.
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