U.S.-China Film Symposium

The Chinese Students & Scholars Association presents a symposium to explore the Chinese and American film industries.

Filmmaking has been a hot topic in both the United States and China for years as Chinese audiences eagerly await for releases of Hollywood hits. Recently, however, a new round of fervent discussion has been triggered by the unparalled success of James Cameron's blockbuster Avatar in China. This action-filled and special effects loaded film raked in over $5 million dollars in China on the day it was released and broke the $15 million dollars mark at the box office in merely 3 days. By the end of February, it had earned $194 million dollars in total in the Chinese market alone. In addition, it has broken all box office records in China, including highest gross on the first day, the highest number of film audience, and new box office records seven weeks in a row, etc. Without a doubt, history has been made. Chinese film goers have shown unprecedented enthusiasm as many stayed up all night to wait in long lines for an IMAX ticket that priced over $30; the tickets have been auctioned online to almost $200.

Facing the triumph of Avatar, Chinese filmmakers seem to have lost their confidence. One of the prominent new generation filmmakers, Lu Chuan (The Missing Gun, Kekexili, Nanjing! Nanjing!), said in his blog:

“Avatar made me realize the great distance between the essence of our (Chinese) films and the simply beauty. Facing the purity of Avatar, we should be ashamed…why such a pure-hearted film full of social responsibilities for humanity was not created by me? What are our filmmakers doing? What have we done for the Chinese audiences?...We filmmakers completely discarded nobility and ethics that a culture creator should have while we embraced vulgarity…I think the gap of technology between an American and a Chinese film is not the real gap; the real gap lies in our hearts…It is a complete fiasco we should accept.”

Lu Chuan is certainly not alone. Author Han Han praised the film and gave it a full score of ten. Screenwriter Ning Cai Shen said the directors and producers who went to see the film with him were left speechless and stunned after the viewing. Yet, they have ample reason to be optimistic. The Chinese film market has been growing over 30% annually for the past five years driven by higher income, preferential policy, more sophisticated marketing and a lot more new screens. In 2009 alone, the country added an average of 1.6 new screens every day. Going forward, the Chinese film market is forecasted to overpass America as the largest box office in three decades. So then why is there such a discrepancy between high potential and yet low confidence? If the creators of the arts lack confidence in their own work, how can the audience appreciate their creations? When the Chinese film market becomes a world leader, who is going to benefit the most - Hollywood or the domestic industry? These are just some of the questions the panel discussion will address.

A Q&A session will follow.

Panelists:

• Ms. Janet Yang is the founder of The Manifest Film Company. Recent films she has produced include “High Crimes,” a thriller for Fox starring Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman, and “The Weight of Water”, starring Sean Pean, Elizabeth Hurley and Sarah Polley. Other recent credits include: “Savior,” a film set in the Bosnian war, starring Dennis Quaid, Nastassja Kinski and Stellan Skarsgard; and “Zero Effect”, a comedic detective movie starring Bill Pullman and Ben Stiller. From 1989 to 1996, Ms. Yang was partnered with Oliver Stone, and president of their company Ixtlan. While there, she produced "The People vs. Larry Flynt” for Columbia Pictures, winner of two Golden Globe Awards and Academy Award nominations. Ms. Yang also served as Executive Producer of the HBO movie "Indictment: The McMartin Trial", for which she received both the 1995 Emmy and Golden Globe Awards. She was also Executive Producer of the critically acclaimed "The Joy Luck Club" (Disney, 1993), directed by Wayne Wang.

• Peter Shiao is the founder and chief executive officer of Orb Media Group, a “transmedia” production and financing company focused on mainstream entertainment with an East-West transborder, transformational and transmedia orientation where content is created, produced and distributed via a robust multi-platform model. In Orb, he is embodying his life-long passion for bridging worlds, innovation and making a positive difference through entertainment. Formerly, Peter served as CEO of Ironpond, a US and Asia based finance/production company that specializes in Chinese-Hollywood co-productions and managed many joint venture projects with  US based fund Endgame Entertainment, the China Film Group and China Film Co-Production Corporation. Peter also produced and created films under the first movie banner he co-founded, Celestial Pictures. Films produced under Celestial include RESTLESS – the first-ever official US-China film co-production and the successful Asian American film THE DEBUT both of which were theatrically distributed and sold internationally. Credited as a bridge-builder between Hollywood and China, Peter chaired and organized the first-ever US-China Film Industry Conference with the White House and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), and produced landmark cooperation between the creative, governmental, and entertainment industries on both sides of the Pacific. He was also an organizer of the 1995 Shanghai International Film Festival.

• Woody Mu is Manager of Distribution Services of Warner Bros. Technical Operations. A graduate and former lecturer at the Beijing Film Academy, he came to the United States in 1984 as a visiting scholar, engaging in research at California State University, Northridge and at USC. In 1989, he co-founded the Los Angeles Chinese Broadcasting Company and became a TV journalist and news producer. Woody has also been involved in numerous overseas Chinese film projects such as CEO by Wu Tianming and Hi Frank by Huang Shuqin, as well as TV drama series such as Green Card by Hu Xueyang and Together We Live and Die by Lu Xiaowei. In 1998, he joined Warner Bros. to handle the Chinese language dubbing business for the company and was later promoted to his current position as a manager in charge of distribution services for Canada, China and Southeast Asia.

• 2004 Screenwriting winner of CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment), born and raised in mainland China, Simon Sun moved to the U.S. at the age of 25. Prior to this he was an entertainment feature reporter in Beijing. He holds a Bachelor degree in Journalism from Fudan University, Shanghai, China and a MFA in Screenwriting from USC School of Cinema and Television. "America On My Mind" was Simon's graduate thesis at USC and since its completion, it has won him a USC distinction award and was a finalist at Sundance Screenwriting Lab. In addition to screenwriting he has also authored two well-received non-fiction books in Chinese.

• Michael Zhang is the Founder and CEO of Ray Flame Entertainment Inc., a web game developer and operating company, headquartered in Los Angeles with office in Beijing. Prior to Ray Flame, he is the leader of Vestgame’s North American team, launched the English version of KungFu World and achieved tremendous success. Besides that, Michaels has seven years of experience at the Internet industry at Fortune 500 companies, government, consulting companies and his own E-Commerce company. Michael has a MS in Computer Science as well as an MBA. 

• Liu Yuan is the COO & Creative Director at Earbash Audio, Inc., an audio design company. Prior to that, he served as sound designer at Electronic Arts. Yuan graduated from California Institute of the Arts and Berklee College of Music.

• A China-born visual effects creator with an 11-year career in both Asian and Hollywood digital productions, Roy Yang has worked in artistic and managerial capacities with most well-known Asian film makers and major Hollywood studios. He graduated from Shanghai Tong Ji University, majored in Architecture/ Industrial Design. Throughout his career, he has won numerous awards in both China and the US.