Unsuspectingly, Sunday night's Academy Awards turned into a kind of prism of global politics as Oscars were given out to Iranian and Pakistani films as well as to a film produced by a French director with French actors financed with French subsidies.

Richard Nixon had his “ping-pong diplomacy” with China. Maybe it’s time for Barack Obama to try a little “Oscar diplomacy” with Iran...Who knows? If a process of change can begin with a ping-pong paddle, maybe it can also begin with a golden statuette.

Iranians are heralding the country’s first Oscar win as the best public diplomacy for the Islamic Republic in many years. “Cinema,” the ex-president wrote to Farhadi in a public letter, “helps humanity to overcome aggression [and to be] able to bring hearts closer to each other.”

Although many Holly- and Bollywood scenes are shot in Switzerland, until now the country’s efforts to promote itself haven’t been anything to sing and dance about. The new head of Film Location Switzerland aims to professionalise the sector to attract more producers...

APDS Blogger: Jennifer Green

Washington, D.C. -- We are just so excited to be in a place where others understand the term “public diplomacy.”

The “we” I am talking about is the delegation of 18 public diplomacy graduate students from the University of Southern California, on an inaugural trip to Washington, D.C. to meet with professionals working in our field at various organizations. The goal was to broaden our awareness of careers in public diplomacy, and to build connections and opportunities between the East and West coasts.

As the second largest economy in the world, China has been working to improve its cultural soft power. Last week, a consortium of Chinese companies agreed to set up a joint venture with the US-based DreamWorks Animation, with agendas to make a sequel of blockbuster movie Kung Fu Panda 3 later this year.

A breakthrough in the final hours of Xi Jinping's US tour has eased restrictions on imports of US films into China, and could lead to more 3D and Imax films being made in Hollywood...For Chinese, "more US movies may force domestic producers to take a correct attitude toward their works and learn from others."

China has agreed to open its market to more US films and provide better terms to US studios. "This agreement with China will make it easier than ever before for US studios and independent filmmakers to reach the fast-growing Chinese audience, supporting thousands of American jobs in and around the film industry," US Vice-President Joe Biden said in a statement.