Firms have much to learn from Hollywood

Chinese film companies still have a long way to go to export the nation's culture via movies, despite major expansion overseas in 2012 through acquisitions and joint ventures, industry officials said during a forum yesterday at the on-going 16th Shanghai International Film Festival.

Chinese filmmakers and investors are expected to continue expanding in the global market but have to learn much from Hollywood in investment, production, distribution and promotion, said executives from Huayi Brothers and Beijing Galloping Horse, investors in the overseas markets.

"We have tested the water but it's still too early to call it an export of culture. We can only cover the Chinese-language-speaking region in Asia," Wang Zhongjun, chairman and chief executive of Huayi Bros, said during the forum.

Chinese firms should be more "patient" on cultural exports, even with the investment and rapidly growing domestic box office, said Sid Ganis, former vice president of Sony Pictures.

It's still a huge challenge for Chinese filmmakers to distribute and promote a film on Chinese culture in the West, according to Ivy Zhong, vice chairman of Galloping Horse.

"China has an advantage in huge capital interested in the film industry. But the gap in imagination and innovation between China and the United States is still obvious," said Wang Ran, chief executive of China eCapital Corp.

"We want to make films based on Chinese culture with a Hollywood way in Shanghai," said Peter Li, managing director of China Media Capital, a partner with US-based DreamWorks Animation in Oriental DreamWorks in Shanghai.