A scene in Lao Qiang, or Yellow River Aria.  [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

In essence, Lao Qiang is a love story that uses cultural heritage as a vehicle to tell it and raise awareness of the art form.

But for a movie that is palatable for Chinese audiences and picked up awards at the Montreal Film Festival and China Image Film Festival in 2014, receiving the cold shoulder is the last thing one would expect.

The problem is not a lack of market interest, argues Gao; cinemas are to blame because they are reluctant to give way to cultural films deemed to be less profitable.

To drive up profits, cinema chains in China tend to give priority to more lucrative films, meaning that low-budget (but often better) cultural movies are being sidelined for dazzling Hollywood blockbusters and shoddy productions featuring Chinese celebrities.

So while many movie-goers may well be crying out for a film like Lao Qiang (as this year's box office statistics would suggest), there is simply no option to see them.

"[Cinemas] make more room for blockbusters, but the attendance rate is not always high," said Gao. "As long as the cinema chains improve their management and arrange the slots properly, cultural films will have a good market prospect."