Interview: Hollywood distributor eyes opportunities in global ambition of Chinese film industry

The Chinese film industry is seeking to expand its influence on the global stage, which provides the perfect opportunity for international producers and distributors to get further involved in the lucrative Chinese market, a senior executive in the Hollywood business of film production and distribution told Xinhua in an interview here on Tuesday.

Stuart Ford, founder and CEO of IM Global, a Los Angeles-based multifunction company specialising in international film production, sales and distribution, said instead of focusing only on the domestic box office, Chinese companies and filmmakers are seeking to expand internationally.

"We want to be the bridge of that international expansion," he said.

Ford arrived at the 73rd Venice Film Festival to attend the premiere of Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge, a new film distributed globally by his company.

His company, since established in 2007, has found commercial success in the Chinese market by introducing Hollywood blockbusters to Chinese audiences.

In recent years, the company, with offices established in Beijing and Shanghai, also started to help Chinese films access the overseas market, including Mr. Six directed by Guan Hu and Mermaid by Stephen Chow.

In Ford's opinion, international film festivals, including the Venice Film Festival, have shown a growing appetite for the presence of Chinese companies and Chinese talent.

"Film festivals are the places where you can get the most audience reaction and the most media reaction. But the Chinese film industry is relatively young when it comes to international publicity. So we decided to create a business that could help these Chinese companies and Chinese talent export themselves to major festivals as global players," he explained.

Given the importance of the Chinese market, it is essential for the company to be more than an importer of Hollywood films, but also an active participant in the local business, Ford said.

Among the big-budget Chinese films that made their way to the American and the European markets, few have had satisfactory performance in box office, raising questions among media and critics on whether the effort was in vain.

However, according to Ford, international success of a Chinese film should not be defined by box office.

"In the Chinese marketplace, box office is what everybody looks at, because that's where 80 to 90 percent of the revenue of a film is generated. But things are different in the international market," he said. "The real benchmarks of success for a Chinese film is not so much the box office number, but the eyeballs, and the methods of dissemination."

He explained that millions of Chinese speakers overseas would choose to watch Chinese films on internet or TV platforms instead of movie theatres, and those are the places that would generate the most revenue for Chinese films in coming years.

When it comes to subjects of Chinese films, Ford said that traditional subjects such as historical dramas and action films featuring martial arts would remain popular among Western audience, but he also expects a new wave coming to bring more human touches to Chinese films.

"As the Chinese film industry gets increasing mature, as filmmakers become more aware of script development and storytelling, I think romantic dramas and romantic comedies will become a new wave finding international audience because of their human components and universal nature of storytelling," he said. Endit