Film leaders explore in-depth Sino-foreign co-production
- By Zhang Rui
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E-mail China.org.cn, April 18, 2014
He revealed he once wanted to do a film about Chairman Mao Zedong, and another film about the Cultural Revolution featuring love and a bit of homosexuality and a documentary film for Beijing Olympics 2008 collecting Chinese faces, but the Chinese authorities rejected all his projects. "When we can eventually do these films, they will be real co-production films that we expect in an open-minded country."
Frederick Huntsberry, the COO of Paramount Pictures, added that the success of the "Transformers" franchise lies in the "localization" of a film. Although the film is an American film, the creators would create the story to include local elements seamlessly as early as in the script writing.
""Transformers" doesn't have to include Chinese elements. It just tells a Chinese related story. No matter what country is in the film, the "Transformers" global brand will always have appeal due to the success of the previous three movies."
"We may have misunderstandings about co-production," Huntsberry said, "What we really should do is integrate as many the resources as possible from various countries, not just Sino-American collaboration." He added that they don't just do such kind of film franchise when referring to co-production. They would love to explore other themes and stories, and the collaboration should not only include co-production, but also other collaboration forms like distribution.
Alfonso Cuarón, who got best director award for "Gravity" at 86th Academy Awards earlier this year, said he loved Chinese culture and agreed that co-production is not just "financial trade." Talking about Chinese elements including the Chinese space station in "Gravity," Cuarón said those elements are organic component in his film. "The organic integration is very important, this is not just financial cooperation," he said.
Ye Ning, Vice President of Wanda Cultural Industries Group, talked about Wanda's acquisition of AMC and said there was much to learn from this case. He said it is very important to know and have an insight into whether a collaboration benefit the collaborators. He also underlined that respect and understanding for each other's cultures is also very important.
Russian director Timur Bekmambetov also shared his thought, "I feel the most important thing is to present the things that you really think people can understand. In my impression, the world is so small, human nature is universal and we actually have the same views about values on this planet. I feel we need more exchanges. We can express ourselves better, share our thoughts and let people understand each other, which will make this planet a better place."
The 4th Beijing International Film Festival runs from April 16 - 23, 2014.
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