A film about the near-death experience of a state-owned enterprise in China is being screened in the latest attempt by regulators to build public support for a new round of painful restructuring.

Despite the popularity of films about the undead in China this production about a corporate ‘zombie’ is no blockbuster. Instead, a retired civil servant is promoting A Harsh Transition, a sober documentary that makes the case that bankruptcy may not be so bad after all.

“After bankruptcy a company can live again, like a phoenix,” Zhou Fangsheng, the documentary maker, declared to journalists after a screening this week in Beijing. “Look at Donald Trump. He’s said himself he’s declared bankruptcy four times and look at him now. Isn’t he doing well? He’s the US president!”