The art of marketing: all things to all men

Publicity for films is never to be believed. And in China there is more than the usual reason because a movie can be made in one genre and marketed as another.

Chinese filmmakers are increasingly skillful in the art of telling it not as it is. The purpose can be many-fold: to appease censors, to curry favor with foreign juries and, more than ever, to attract audiences.

Roughly speaking, there are three types of movies in China today: genre movies that are commercial, art movies whose main goal is to win awards, especially European ones, and finally zhuxuanlu, literally "main melody", referring to movies that emphasize positive values endorsed by the government and are possibly funded by the government.