Chinese art lovers in London had a grand time of it last week. As well as the city's Design Festival being in full swing, its Raindance Film Festival had its first ever China Day on Thursday.
Not to far from London's Piccadilly Circus is Regent Street - London’s major commercial area and where an audience from China and the UK watched Johnnie To’s new action film "Three". The film was selected as the new representative work of Chinese films this year by the Raindance Film Festival. The founder of the festival also believes that China's film industry has great potential.
"I stumbled across Chinese films by accident many years ago. We had a movie at Raindancecalled In The Mood for Love, by Wong Kar-Wai. And the cinematographer was Christopher Doyle. The story was so amazing. I was totally hooked. Of course now Raindance and Europe look to China for the new talent. And we think that China is where the new Steven Spielberg, the next George Lucas, the next big inventor of Cinema will come from - both from a story point of view and from a technological point of view. It’s not going to come from Europe or America, but from China," said Elliot Grove, Raindance Film Festival founder.
Younger generations of Chinese filmmakers are facing new challenges, and are also taking on new opportunities in an age of golden bilateral relations.
"I made my first proposal on the 27th of August in 2014. It was a dream. I would never thought it would become reality, because it’s really difficult for Chinese people to get involved in the mainstream industry, and bring films to the western audience directly. So it’s all for the youngsters, it’s all for the young film makers and for the talents," said Danting Wang, Raindance China director.
Apart from film production, Chinese filmmakers and technical experts of the industry bring an outlook of co-production. Chinese 3D patent technology and Virtual Reality have been discussed with the British audience at this year's festival. Like the film industry, in-depth cultural exchanges are bridging the gap between the two countries.
"After last year’s Presidential visit, I think the state visit has opened up a very new face of cultural collaboration. In the past, we were very much focused on the cultural exchange programs between cultural institutions, namely speaking, in the area of film, TV, visual arts, performing arts, press and publication. But nowadays, these affairs expanded much more into the creative industry in design, fashion, games and animation, and also in technology," said Xiang Xiaowei, from Chinese Embassy in UK.
Back on the big screen - where "Three’s" gun battle scene was performed in slow motion, the film attracted many eyes of the audience. But the attracted attention is not only for the new advancements made by China's film industry, but for its ability to create AND be artistic.
