China, Iran join hands to shoot Kung Fu film

Chinese and Iranian film makers reached an agreement Monday to co-produce a martial arts (Kung Fu) film.

Representatives of Iran's leading film maker Farabi Cinema Foundation (FCF) and China's Shinework Media signed the deal at the 33rd Fajr International Film Festival.

The film, tentatively named the Way to Shaolin, will be the first film to be co-produced by Chinese and Iranian film makers, according to Shen Jian, movie producer and chairman of Shinework Media.

It will be filmed in both Iran and China with actors and crew from both countries.

"This is a legitimate, genuine and concrete cooperation, with joint efforts in directing and writing, about a very interesting story," said Hojjatollah Ayyoubi, head of Iran's Cinema Organization.

The film is to help promote cultural exchange between the two countries while tapping into Chinese and Iranian markets, perhaps even the world market, said Amir Esfandiari, director of international affairs at FCF.

The Way to Shaolin recounts the story of an Iranian Kung Fu fan, who underwent much hardship to become a Kung Fu master and then embarked upon a pilgrimage to the Shaolin Temple, the Mecca of Kung Fu in central China's Henan province.

The Fajr International Film Festival is an annual event sponsored by the Iranian government to mark the 1979 Islamic Revolution with competitions held for Iranian and International films. The international section started Saturday.

The film 1942, by renowned Chinese director Feng Xiaogang, which portrayed the lives of Chinese people during a great famine and war, won the award for best screenplay in the 31st Fajr International Film Festival in 2013. Endit