It was the opening ceremony of ‘2017 as the year of Japan-India friendly exchanges’ when renowned Indian film director-writer, Imtiaz Ali announced the production of his new film, ‘Love in Tokyo’ in collaboration with a major Japanese film studio, Shochiku. This Indo-Japanese collaboration is a part of the friendly exchanges the two countries are looking at by means of cultural exchanges.

China, which regards itself as one of the world’s oldest civilizations, but one that has been repressed by outsiders, has often made culture a battlefield. It has tussled with its neighbors and rewritten history textbooks. In other instances, soft power skirmishes may be seen as substitutes for hot war. So China’s recent embrace of Japanese movies may be more complicated than audiences falling for the cuteness purveyed by Japan’s cartoon factories.

Dubai has announced plans to set up the first Arab Film Institute (AFI), a non-profit cultural association dedicated to celebrating and promoting regional film. Designed to bring together the most promising and brightest of Arab filmmakers under one roof, the AFI will be a unique meeting point between the art, technique and commerce involved in a prosperous film industry through learning, advocacy and networking.

“Macao is a place where cultures from the East and West are orchestrated into a beautiful symphony. […] The synergy between culture and tourism enriches visitors’ experience in Macao, and steers the tourism industry and the cultural and creative industry towards sustainable development, ultimately supporting Macao’s quest to become a world center of tourism and leisure,” said Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, president of the festival organizing committee.

As Hollywood comes to China in desperate search of new, lucrative audiences, China is desperate to harness something of the elusive magic. If it can build its own film industry, the argument goes, it can use it to develop its so-called "soft power", in the same way US movies have carried American values and norms around the world for a century or more.

Celebrated Pakistani movies drew packed houses on Saturday, the first day of Pakistan Film Festival’s triumphant debut in New York City. [...] Earlier, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi declared open the two-day festival, saying it is a part of the continuing efforts to promote cultural diplomacy and to project the country’s soft power.