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James Cameron in China
  • ahblezaahbleza

    I thought this was an interesting interview with James Cameron. He seems to be heavily investing in 3D filming, and is especially interested in the market in China -- and the most interesting statistic is that China is building eight new cinemas EVERY DAY.

    http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/05/james-cameron-on-chinese-filmmakers-censorship-and-potential-co-productions/

  • 37 Replies sorted by
  • johnnymjohnnym

    I think Zhang Yimou is one of China's most revered artists. Didn't he create that breathtaking 2008 Olympics spectacle? He must have access to huge funds cause his costume dramas look very expensive. For Hero they seemed to rely a great deal on CG too.

  • MirrorManMirrorMan

    Wang Bing docs are intense. Yimou Zhang has made some beautiful productions (Raise the Red Lantern, Ju Dou, To Live etc.). I've no idea how these types of films are received in China though.

  • OedipaxOedipax

    As far as mainland filmmakers go, Jia Zhangke's films are excellent.

    Wang Bing has produced some incredible documentary work using only the barest of DV technology as well (like West of the Tracks).

    And for the super-indie, anyone with a camera can make it (in material terms, not artistic) type film, check out Liu Jiayin's Oxhide.

    I know Jia had several of his films go undistributed in China because they were not made with the participation/approval of the Chinese government, but they toured the festival world and won many accolades abroad. If I'm not mistaken, his new films are shown domestically now.

    A similar dynamic plays out (albeit in in economic censorship terms, not government) with many of the most interesting contemporary American filmmakers who find more receptive audiences and production funds abroad. David Lynch getting funded by Canal Plus, to name just one example.

  • brianlucebrianluce

    Taiwan, China, and HK all have distinct film traditions. It's incorrect to lump them all together as "Chinese" just as it's incorrect to conflate British and US filmmaking or Mexican and Argentine filmmaking.

  • SangyeSangye

    As Tears Go By (1988) is one of my all-time favorite films. Sublime directing and cinematography. Made in Hong Kong, but I think it can be grouped with Chinese cinema writ large.

  • ahblezaahbleza

    I'm surprised no one has referenced any specific Chinese films, when there is such a wealth to choose from. Here's one recent example (I'll try to embed, otherwise also post the link.)

    https://prescreen.com/movie/The-Woman-Knight-of-Mirror-Lake?st=email/daily/missed

  • anacrofilosotecaanacrofilosoteca

    @svart If u want my opinion. "America"(wich is a "particular" way that U.S.A people call their country). Doesnt countrol anything. Money and financial emporioums control the world and USA soldier more than the Goverment does.

  • svartsvart

    @anacrofilosoteca, It's not about the actual facts. A lot of opinions in this thread are really just thinly veiled frustration based on people feeling that "America" somehow controls what they watch, and therefor, controls their culture and that autocratic governments should control homeland entertainment to keep "American" influences to a minimum. It's the same argument we always hear, just applied to a different excuse as to why ____ country's occupants are unhappy. Everybody seems to think americans are all rich and have all the power and control in the world and then they look at themselves and wonder why they are so unhappy and come to the conclusion that somehow America must be holding them back. Well, that's not true. We are just as poor and unhappy as the rest of the world, mainly because everybody blames us for everything. :)

  • anacrofilosotecaanacrofilosoteca

    @sulph

    Since when do american people watch non-american movies? :-)

    And the sense of this question is? And wich ones are the americans movies? hollywood movies? chilenean movies? canadian? C class? B class? independent erotic movies? porn movies? low cost socialist documentaries? movies made by americans in europe? made by europeans in america? by asians in america? pls tell me.

  • danabramsdanabrams

    I think it's a simple question of control: by limiting foreign films, you're giving the Chinese governe,mt more control over what it's people see. It's not a lot more control, but it is more control.

    There is a viable argument that this is a great well to shelter the chinese film industry, for a limited number of years, so it can develop the capacity to compete with American films (although this provision has been in place for decades, at some point it either happens or doesn't). But come on, this is china, and this is about control of content. The Chinese government can more easily control the content of Chinese films.

    The French film industry is highly subsidized and does exert some control over filmmakers, although its more of a "we choose you but not you" sort of control. For anyone trying to break into the industry that can be devastating. It's about who you know, not what you know.

    Meanwhile, other countries have similar requirements as China. Canadian films and television need to be a certain percentage Canadian (they mostly get American TV) and a certain percentage French canadian. There are mandates, in law, that this content be fundamentally "Canadian." Since this is defined in contrast to very, very similar American content, it often leaves filmmakers asking, "what does 'Canadian' mean?" often it means more shots of moose and hockey and molson.

    The minute the state becomes involved in aiding the arts in any way, it begins to exert control. The US Army for instance, will lend equipment to big Hollywood films that it believes portray it positively, but not to films that it thinks won't. It recently collaborated with the indie film "Act of Valor" lending active duty navy seals to act in the film. Also in the US, some states have started restricting tax breaks to films that portray the state in a positive fashion. Does that mean that Taxi Driver wouldn't qualify for NY tax breaks?

    Government help means some degree of government control.

    When you talk to filmmakers in countries where the government subsidizes or limits trade on films, they spend their time thinking about what film they can make that will appeal to government bureaucrats, not to audiences. And that has to be the goal...to make something people want to see.

    Putting limits on what people can see is not the way to ensure a happy audience.

  • svartsvart

    I'm American and I don't think America makes the best movies. They just have the largest production system which allows them to have more mass appeal.

    And one of my favorite movies is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Watch_%282004_film%29

  • SangyeSangye

    @Vitaliy_Kiselev I agree. And on the point of self-determination that someone else made, that's a tricky affair and to some extent I would argue that restricting foreign films increases national self-determination in the strictest sense of the word. Individual self-determination may be constrained somewhat by such restrictions (I'm reluctant to call it censorship), but national self-determination only stands to benefit from promoting domestic technology and the arts through a limit on what foreign films are shown.

    In the true spirit of communism, vis-a-vis the principle of internationalism, there would be no such thing as "foreign" art. But in Marxist analysis, American film is not "art" at all, but rather a commodity, carrying with it all of the corrupting contexts of capitalism.

  • duartixduartix

    @Vitaliy_Kiselev said: "It is better for Chinese people, as you can see less computer generated fantasy lands and less foreign propaganda."

    Interesting point. So instead you rather see a censorship Committee who with a 99.9% chance will still feed the People of the People's Republic with a slightly different internal propaganda? I'm sure it won't be much different from what they have now. :(

    We used to have that in Portugal you know? It was under the dictatorship times and luckily we threw them out in 1974 on April the 25th, which is now called Liberty Day. Some old farts here still miss those days when nobody could badmouth the Government, women couldn't vote or leave the country without their husband saying so or nurses couldn't get married among a few other interesting human being limitations all in the collective interest of a few great minds...Yes there was less crime in those days, but the price was people being 10x poorer and 10x more ignorant. I was 2 at the time, but my parents who lived through those times haven't miss them one single day.

    I will not get into political discussions as they inevitably turn sour quickly and because I also admire Communism, but just not the way we saw it in the old URSS or in China not very long ago. I think it just works better the way it was implemented by the Social Democrats in Sweden in the 80's and later until 2006. Working for a bigger common good is what separates advanced societies from the primitive, now if it's at the expense of personal freedom, I rather live in anarchy.

  • SulphSulph

    "And where did u get that there are "better" movies than others?"

    Since when do american people watch non-american movies? :-)

  • vic20vic20

    @brianluce

    "Americans make the best movies" that's a pretty bold statement

    some good movies are made in north americans, mainly outside hollywood, but a lot of the best movies are not american and even less out of hollywood.

  • johnnymjohnnym

    China has brilliant directors. And all the more reason to protect their own culture is their unique way of telling a story. I remember being quite baffled when i first saw Chinese films. At first I just didn't understand the story or the logic of it!

  • last_SHIFTlast_SHIFT

    China can make excellent films - dont pay attention the melodromatic Rape of Nanjing movies they make every month. You would think that with time things would open up a bit but they take a step back. Yes China can 'play with the big boys' - ever see Farewell My Concubine? ( almost 20 yrs ago!)

  • anacrofilosotecaanacrofilosoteca

    @brianluce

    Americans make the best movies

    North Americans? South Americans? Native Americans? all of them, us? And where did u get that there are "better" movies than others? following wich rules u classified it like that?

  • rumirumi

    Ok lets try that agen!

    China's film industries = "the diplomat". " The Founding of a Republic" etc...ect

    Propaganda and self boasting.

    I hope the good people of China can get a chance to make truthfull and meaningful films without being persecuted. When that happens we will see a hole new world of cinema.

  • brianlucebrianluce

    Aren't American films these days mostly recycled Hong Kong flicks? vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv What? Of course not. We do alien invasions and super heroes.

  • MirrorManMirrorMan

    Aren't American films these days mostly recycled Hong Kong flicks? Apart from that historical glitch, Vitaliy has some good points. Besides China can't afford to go down the American debt road. There's not enough money in this wing of the spiral arm galaxy for that. However, should China (sadly) adopt the American "market" approach to its film industry, I would enjoy a glum future of Americans being forced to watch recycled Chinese export crap of their own recycled crap.

  • itimjimitimjim

    @bueller I doubt it

  • itimjimitimjim

    France is a relatively good model for film making. France was able to develop its own film industry without letting Hollywood stomp all over its own internal market. France now enjoys a nice blend of its own commercially successful internal works, as well as the might of Hollywood.

    The same didn't happen happen in the UK unfortunately, although it is starting to enjoy some growth over the past decade.

    It's a shame that Hollywood's vice like grip on audiences has conditioned them to 'expect' a certain type of movie. I think China is doing the right thing, even it if comes off a bit heavy handed and censored....but that's their way. Rather than restrictions, I'd like to see financial incentives, i.e. tax waiver on domestic products (from production through to ticket sales), price fixing, grants.

  • BuellerBueller

    Soon all American movies will be Made in China

  • brianlucebrianluce

    @Vitaliy That's a fair point that US film markets are closed. And there's a danger too of Hollywood tentpole movies sucking all the Oxygen out of the local market. I just question the concept of artistic protectionism as well as the notion of limiting film to "Local" themes and "Local" problems. To my mind, presenting a universal theme in local packaging is better.

    And btw, I disagree that I disagree with you all the time. :)

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