China’s Most Popular and ‘Correct’ Films Come Here

American audiences this week will get a rare chance to see some of China’s most popular commercial movies.

In a bit of ironic timing, the traveling festival of Chinese government-sanctioned films gets underway at a time when U.S. studio executives face tough questioning from government critics about violent content of Hollywood movies. The festival’s lineup was handpicked by a government that prefers movies it considers “healthy” or “correct” in outlook.

The festival, which opened Monday in Hollywood’s Egyptian Theater, continues through Friday and subsequently will travel to New York and San Francisco. Sponsored by the Motion Picture Assn., the international arm of the Motion Picture Assn. of America, the event also coincides with last week’s passage of the controversial China trade bill, which normalized trade relations with the communist nation. Significantly, the bill also increased the quota of American movies imported by China--a country the entertainment industry sees as an untapped gold mine of more than 1 billion potential moviegoers.

Themes of the films include patriotism, good sportsmanship, rediscovery of cultural roots and a straightforward disaster-adventure movie. Most of the directors are not internationally recognized names because their films have not been seen outside China.

The films include the nationalist “1919” by Huang Jianzhong; “Breaking the Silence” a drama about a single mother raising a deaf child, starring China’s premier actress Gong Li and directed by Sun Zhou; “Crash Landing,” an airplane disaster picture by Zhang Jianya; “Dragon Boat Rhapsody,” about a young man searching for his Chinese roots, by Wang Hengli; “The Last Hunters,” a romantic drama by Shi Xuehai set in the years after the Chinese Revolution; “Lotus Lantern,” a traditional Chinese folk tale directed by Chang Guanxi; and “Team Spirit,” about a successful basketball team, directed by Qi Jian.

The Chinese delegation, which includes the minister of the country’s general film bureau, and the directors will be treated to a gala opening reception in each city. In addition, the MPA has scheduled meetings with top executives from the seven major studios in Los Angeles and a lunch with Miramax and other companies in New York.

The idea for the festival grew out of a series of meetings between Chinese officials and MPAA Chairman Jack Valenti. Valenti has visited China five times in the past three years hoping to persuade Chinese officials to open their market to more American films. Valenti’s lobbying efforts bore fruit last week. Under the trade bill, imports of U.S. films that split revenue 50-50 between the distributor and the government will increase from 10 per year to 20, and those for which the U.S. distributor gets a flat fee will rise to 40 and eventually to 50.

Is an Annual Festival the Answer?

Last year the MPA hosted its first festival in New York and Los Angeles, in addition to special VIP screenings for U.S. and Chinese government officials in Washington, D.C. Ironically, the festival was held as part of a celebration commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Chinese Revolution.

“The U.S. film community decided to do another film festival in responding to China’s demand that the U.S. should import more Chinese films,” said Wang Gengnian, deputy director general of China’s Film Bureau in a written interview. “We appreciate such a decision. . . . However we think [a] once-a-year film festival is still far from enough.”

Although all the films last year were shown to studio executives, MPA officials said they did not know if any of the movies were picked up for distribution. Realistically, the likelihood of these films getting picked up for American audiences is slim. One of the main problems is that government-approved Chinese movies pale in comparison to their more daring films by such noted directors as Zhang Yimou (“Raise the Red Lantern”) and Chen Kaige (“Farewell My Concubine”), whose films have been banned in China.

Valenti downplayed the notion that Chinese officials censor film but acknowledged: “They are stricter than anybody else, but I have no problem doing business with them.”

The Chinese also have complained about such U.S.-made films as “Red Corner” and “Seven Years in Tibet,” which criticized the Chinese legal system and their invasion of Tibet, respectively. Zhang Pimin, director of the Xian Studio in China, one of the oldest studios in the country, said the Chinese government tries to “make sure the message of the film is correct. A Chinese producer will have responsibility to supply people with very healthy films and films that teach them to be optimistic.”

Zhang’s latest film, “Shower,” was featured in Cannes this year. He also produced “1919,” which will be screened at the Chinese festival. Zhang added that he is in discussions with an independent distributor in New York to stage a screening of his studio’s films in October.

Another goal of the Chinese is to establish partnerships with U.S. companies. Universal Pictures and Beijing Film Studios are co-producing “Pavilion of Women,” based on the Pearl S. Buck novel. The movie, which was filmed in China, stars Willem Dafoe and Luo Yan, a Shanghai-born actress now based in Los Angeles whose grandfather became a political prisoner in China during the Cultural Revolution.

Many Chinese immigrants in the United States are hungry for more product from their former homeland, said actress Joan Chen, who filmed last year’s critically acclaimed “‘Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl” in China.

“There is a much stronger affinity toward China [among Chinese expatriates] than the Cuban Americans toward Cuba,” said the actress-director. “The Chinese who live overseas love to get a sample of some art form to enjoy. It may have been censored but still it is speaking in the Chinese language and the sentiments that Chinese expats may have been thirsty for. . . . I crave to see some Chinese movies.”