A national security law foisted by Beijing on Hong Kong last year has curbed artistic freedoms that are necessary for movies to thrive, says a veteran actor who leads a filmmakers’ industry group.

Harsh penalties to punish sedition, secession, collusion and terrorism with up to life imprisonment under the Hong Kong law had deterred local productions from tackling sensitive subjects, said Tenky Tin, chair of the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers.

Moviemakers would completely steer clear of politics to avoid breaching the national security law, whose ambiguities had left him “deeply worried,” Tin said in an interview with public broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong. The industry was also heavily dependent on co-productions between Hong Kong and mainland China, which further limited the space for addressing politics.

“It would be impossible to film ‘Infernal Affairs’ today as a co-production,” he said. “How is it possible for the police force to have moles in its midst? That would be slander.”

The 2002 crime thriller “Infernal Affairs” is widely considered to be a masterpiece of Hong Kong theater. It was later adapted into an Oscar-winning movie by Hollywood director Martin Scorsese.

“Mainland Chinese audiences used to like Hong Kong movies because we showed them something they couldn’t see at home,” Tin said, adding that censoring the industry would make it less competitive in Chinese and foreign markets.

Earlier this month, local commentator Stephen Shiu declared that the Hong Kong movie industry was “dead,” with no chance of it returning to its heyday of the 1980s. UA Cinemas, one of the city’s biggest movie-theater chains, went out of business this week.

Tin said he agreed with Shiu’s sentiment for now, but felt that the industry was not beyond saving.

Winnie Tsang, founder of movie distributor Golden Scene, said the trend of co-producing shows with mainland China had robbed movies of their Hong Kong identity and language. Creative freedom was important and the industry should be vigilant against self-censorship, she told RTHK.

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