Interview: Chinese film industry needs "idealistic" professionals: Venice Film Festival jury member

Chinese cinema needs "mission-driven and idealistic" professionals to bring more diversity to the industry, Chinese member of the international jury of the 73rd Venice Film Festival Zhao Wei said here on Friday.

"I do agree that there is currently a lack of diversity in the Chinese film market. Whenever a certain genre becomes popular, everyone would rush to make more similar films," the 40-year-old actress-turned-director told Xinhua in an exclusive interview. "But indeed, experimenting with a new genre is a risky thing. There aren't enough adventurous investors in the Chinese market who are willing to take the risk."

Zhao is the only Asian member among the nine jurors of this year's main competition, and will be presenting the award for Best Director at the closing ceremony on Saturday evening.

Born in east China's Anhui Province, the actress rose to stardom in the late 90s for her role in a popular Chinese TV series.

After receiving her Master's degree in film directing from Beijing Film Academy, Zhao made her directorial debut in 2013 with So Young. The film raked in over 718 million yuan(107.2 million U.S. dollars) in final box office in China.

"After So Young, which was a coming-of-age movie, there were a lot of films made in China with the same or similar topics," she said. "The investors thought this genre was profitable, so they just desperately poured their money into making more of the same kind of films. People have come to realise that but maybe it is not yet enough."

However, there are still some visionaries in China who are eager to invest in artistic films, Zhao said. "The market itself won't change. No one can decide anything for the market. We need more brave professionals to try to set the trend."

Despite the strong Chinese presence in investment, production and distribution at this year's festival, no Chinese-language film was selected for the main competition.

Zhao said she considered this a normal thing, but admitted that it showed signs of the lack of diversity and the over-commercialisation of the Chinese film industry.

"The non-presence of Chinese films in the main competition implies one thing -- there are less artistic films in the Chinese market, but more commercial films. That's the only reason. It doesn't mean that Chinese movies are bad. They are just telling more audience-oriented and box office-oriented stories," she said.

As for the prospects of Chinese cinema in the oversea market, Zhao believes that government support is essential.

"The Chinese government should support the film industry so our culture can prosper and go abroad. It should create opportunities for Chinese filmmakers to exchange ideas with their foreign counterparts," she said, adding that the process could take a long time.

She noted that China had established some film festivals where young talents could find support, and that the country would benefit from protecting creativity and imagination of artists and filmmakers.

First time serving on the jury in Venice, Zhao finds the occasion resembling a seminar on cinema. "I watched on average three films per day, and then discussed with other jurors who came from a variety of backgrounds. I got the chance to see what's going on in the global film industry. There were a lot of surprises, and many things to learn." Endit