Silver Screening online films

A scene from Golden Globe nominee, The Theory of Everything. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Video sites offer an expanding bank of movies like Boyhood that she can watch for as little as 5 yuan (81 cents). She appreciates the coming-of-age story's incorporation of pop songs to ensure fluid transitions, she says.

Four Golden Globe nominees are available on iQiyi, including The Theory of Everything and Maps to the Stars.

Others, such as Birdman, Foxcatcher and best foreign film-winner Leviathan, will soon appear on the site.

Indeed, Chinese video sites have long shown Western films. But previously these films had long beforehand been released on DVD. It wasn't until 2012 that the sites, with Tencent Video leading the way, began streaming new releases.

Users can watch these films multiple times within 48 hours for about 5 yuan.

Streaming sites' abundance of foreign films is a game changer, since the number of foreign films that can be screened in cinemas a year is legally limited to 34.

Websites are subjected to less rigorous official scrutiny and box office pressure. This affords for not only more foreign films but more diverse genres, such as horror and art-house flicks.