Audiences still get a kick with kung fu

Foreign moviegoers know very little about Chinese movies, except for kung fu heroes

When it comes to Chinese movies, foreign audience knows kung fu heroes, such as Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee and Jet Lee. But that's about it, according to a report by the Academy for International Communication of Chinese Culture.

The academy unveiled its 2013 Research of International Communication of Chinese Film Culture in late February in Beijing Normal University. The report aims to investigate foreign audience's attitudes toward Chinese movies and culture. The quantitative study compiled 1,436 questionnaires from 99 countries.

"Action and kung fu movies play an important role in promoting Chinese culture. We should strengthen theory and technology innovations about them, with investment and policy to support their promotion overseas," says the academy's dean Huang Huilin, who initiated the project in 2011.

The research shows that Chinese film market is still immature. Foreign audiences go for only Chinese action, kung fu, historical or war movies and comedies, and they are least interested in Chinese musicals and horror films.

About half of them favor action and kung fu movies because of the martial arts.

The research suggests that to draw more audiences, action and kung fu movies have to innovate kung fu effects and demonstrate Chinese characteristics in film scenes and plot.

The last part of the questionnaire requires respondents to write down a key word related to Chinese movies. Jackie Chan tops the list with 322 feedbacks, followed by Bruce Lee (106) and Jet Lee (95).

But Chinese kung fu movies are not always about these famous kung fu stars. In 2013, The Grandmaster, the directorial martial arts movie of Wong Kar-wai, was nominated as Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design at the 86th Academy Awards. None of the three actors acted in the movie.

According to Zhang Baiqing, director of China Film Critics Society, besides Chinese action and kung fu films, Chinese art-house movies are also influential overseas because they won awards in international film festivals. But lay audiences are not so familiar with them.

In February, Chinese actor Liao Fan won the Silver Bear for Best Actor for the Chinese movie Black Coal, Thin Ice, which also won the Golden Bear for the Best Film.

"The popularity of domestic films is related to our country's economy, politics and culture. Values in the films are very important," Zhang says.

For foreign audience, the other attractive factors in Chinese films include the scenes, plot, Chinese philosophy and cast. Some movies also arouse their interest to visit China, understand Chinese culture as well as to learn Chinese language and kung fu.

But the report discovers that although many foreign audiences are interested in Chinese society and life, they are not attracted to Chinese realistic movies.

"It means that Chinese realistic movies lack the power to move foreign audiences and cannot satisfy their needs to know about China. Screenwriters should strive to make movies an irreplaceable vehicle to introduce the Chinese society," Huang says.

About 60 percent of the subjects watch Chinese movies on TV and free websites. More than 67 percent gather information about Chinese culture via the Internet and television, while only 14.9 percent receive such information solely from Chinese movies.

They do not have much knowledge about Chinese culture and they describe China with adjectives, such as "mysterious", "ancient" and "developing". The survey also shows that the higher one's Chinese language competency is, the more receptive they are toward Chinese movies and culture.

Huang says there is still a long way to go before the internationalization of Chinese film festivals.

More than 57 percent of the subjects have no idea about film festivals in China. Beijing International Film Festival was only established in 2011, but its popularity is similar to that of Shanghai International Film Festival and Hong Kong Film Awards.

It's predicted that Beijing International Film Festival has a better chance to become an international festival, with its rich resources as the political and culture center of China.

"The report is very meaningful. To promote Chinese movies abroad, we should focus on universal values, such as truth, kindness and beauty and tell good stories. It's important that we stick to our cultural identity," says Zhao Baohua, who attended the news conference.

He is a film expert and member of the film censorship committee of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television.

In 2013, the total box office and sales revenues of the 45 domestic movies abroad stood at 1.41 billion yuan ($230 million), an increase of 33 percent compared with 2012. But the figure was lower than 2010 (3.5 billion yuan) and 2011 (2 billion yuan).

"The international dissemination of Chinese movies is still at its initial stage. Some domestic movies draw large audiences in China, but not overseas. We need real blockbusters, films that are both popular in China and abroad," Huang says.

xulin@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 03/07/2014 page29)