The Globe and Mail Bookmark Please log in to listen to this story. Also available in French and Mandarin. Log In Create Free Account Getting audio file ... This translation has been automatically generated and has not been verified for accuracy. Full Disclaimer Courtesy of TIFF This year’s supremely strange Academy Awards are about many things. The rise of streaming services. The long-overdue recognition of diverse artists telling diverse stories. The absolute upside-down disruption of Hollywood business. But there is another, knottier issue hiding in plain sight: China, and its iron grip on the future of filmmaking. For the first time in more than five decades, Hong Kong television station TVB will not air this year’s Academy Awards, following a move last month in which Beijing ordered media in mainland China to not broadcast live coverage of the April 25 gala. And on Douban, China’s massive cultural-centric social networking service, any mention of the 2021 event has been wiped clean. Essentially: this year, the Academy Awards do not exist in China.