The film censorship law passed by Hong Kong’s legislature last week is ostensibly aimed at promoting national security, but observers of the deteriorating state of intellectual and creative freedom in the city are calling it one of the more blatant attempts to yoke Hong Kong more closely to the machinery of authoritarian rule in Beijing. Theoretically directed at content in films that might endanger national security, and threatening violators with fines and up to three years in prison, the law is of a piece with Beijing’s more general heavy-handed approach as exemplified by the national security law imposed on Hong Kong last year. Together, these recent measures are part of Beijing’s effort to anticipate the year 2046—the end of the 50-year period under which Beijing was to maintain Hong Kong’s freedoms and autonomy not found in the mainland, observers said. “From Beijing’s perspective, this new law is part of the …