CHINA: WITH PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA POISED TO ENTER WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION HOLLYWOOD'S BRAINTRUST ENTERS TALKS TO DISCUSS THE 2 NATIONS FILM INDUSTRIES

Record ID: 389679

  • Title: CHINA: WITH PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA POISED TO ENTER WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION HOLLYWOOD'S BRAINTRUST ENTERS TALKS TO DISCUSS THE 2 NATIONS FILM INDUSTRIES
  • Date: 23rd May 2000
  • Summary: JUYONGGUAN, OUTSIDE BEIJING, CHINA (RECENT) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) ACTOR ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER AND WIFE MARIA SHRIVER AT THE GREAT WALL
  • Embargoed: 7th June 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, US/ JUYONGGUAN, OUTSIDE BEIJING, CHINA/ VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: China
  • Reuters ID: LVACGG3WL8L2YS0ML6OH30NQTJND
  • Story Text: With the People's Republic of China (PRC) poised to enter into preferred nation status with the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Hollywood's braintrust, fronted by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) president Jack Valenti, played host to Chinese officials for a discussion on future relations between the two nations' film industries.
    As China prepares for life after acceptance into the WTO, members of the PRC's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television have begun meeting with Hollywood executives to plot the media invasion of mainland China.
    History was made when 1994's "Red Corner", starring American actor and avid China critic Richard Gere, released the first ever motion picture footage filmed in Tiananem Square. The footage was shot in secret and the rest of the movie, set entirely in mainland China, was filmed on Hollywood soundstages.
    That is not to say that western cinema is completely disallowed in China. Arnold Schwarzenegger's "True Lies" is the second biggest hit of all time in China, behind James Cameron's global blockbuster "Titanic".
    The problem is that many Hollywood films have failed to make the grade with China's censures. A mere 10 American films per year are currently allowed to be viewed in China and those films have to pass muster with the government's ministry of culture to get clearance to run in theatres.
    The recent EMASIA (Entertainment and Media in Asia) 2000 conference in Los Angeles, hosted by Rupert Murdoch and his 20th Century Fox studio, became a forum of good will between the film industries of China and the United States.
    "For a long time, especially over the 20 years of opening and reform, the radio, film and television sector in China has established wide ranging contacts with other countries," said Tian Congming, Minister of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television for the PRC.
    "After our entry into the WTO, these kinds of cooperation and exchanges will further expand. By definition, cooperation and exchanges should be two-way. This is our wish and we hope the American media circles and those in other countries respond accordingly."
    Tian's thoughts were echoed by Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) President Jack Valenti.
    "In the last 6 years, 34 major American pictures, made by the major studios, have been exhibited in China," said Valenti, "Titanic" was a huge hit. Next came Arnold Schwarzenegger's "True Lies" which was the second biggest hit.
    The Chinese people like these movies. They go to them in great numbers. Now, not all of the succeeded, anymore than all American movies succeed in America. But, generally speaking, they were recieved most hospitably."
    Two members of the Chinese film community that have made it big in the West are "M:I-2" director John Woo and action superstar Jackie Chan. Valenti hope to facilitate more interaction between the two film industries.
    "If the Chinese want us to, as they expand their market and give us more access, we'll stage workshops on how to write a script, directing, how to direct a movie, special effects,"
    said Valenti, "We would try to share with them both our creative and our technical knowledge, if the ywanted us to do that."
    The hope for Hollywood is more films in the spirit of Warner Bros. "The Amazing Panda Adventures", a rare film with American and Chinese actors and Chinese Pandas all filmed within China, and of course, Chinese audiences in the millions paying to see them.
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