CRI听力:A Forum on Sino-Foreign Film Co-production Takes Place in Beijing

Hosted by Chinese director Huang Jianxin, the Sino-Foreign Film Co-production Forum was a fantastic opportunity for young filmmakers to understand what it's like to work between two completely different cultures.

Some of the world's top filmmakers and industry experts discussed with the audience, ways to drive Chinese films to a larger market and vice versa, also some of the challenges they are faced with when co-producing movies.

French director Jean Jacques Annaud's latest movie was "Wolf Totem," a Sino-French co-production. He believes that being a successful filmmaker involves being international, and co-production is a positive thing.

"I think co-production is good, what it reflects is reality. When a movie has foreign content for Chinese audiences or when a foreign movie has Chinese content it makes sense to have a co-production."

American film producer Tom DeSanto's film "Transformers: Age of Extinction" became the biggest box office hit in Chinese history last year. DeSanto is currently working on a China-US co-production called "Gods," it's a Chinese story that he has recreated for a global audience.

"What we've done is taken the soul of the Chinese story and the core characters but placed it in a global world, with a global perspective, so that a kid in Barcelona or Brazil, or Beijing or Boston can see a face upon screen and see heroes and villains that look like them."

China and the UK have just signed a co-production treaty. Amanda Nevill, CEO of the British Film Institute says there are a few hurdles they need to jump, but it won't be long before the two countries produce a film together.

"We know that there are projects in the incubator, but obviously this takes time. There are also things like language to get round and understanding cultures, the whole point of making a film together is making it together, so you have to understand each other's audiences but you know we are on our way."

One important point all of the guests made was that there are a lot of similarities between filmmakers and audiences, even if their cultures are completely different. Everyone is human with family and working relations, and likes a good story, with interesting characters.

Both South Korean filmmaker Tae Sung Jeong and Chinese director XueKe believe that understanding and cultural respect of one another is vital to successful co-production. Co-production is a recognition that everyone, no matter where you are from, is in it together.
 
For CRI this is Chloe Lyme.