Films aim for success abroad

Some Chinese filmmakers have been exploring better ways to approach their international audiences.

Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai made The Grandmaster, the story of Bruce Lee's mentor Ip Man, 22 minutes shorter when releasing it in the United States in August. He added inter-titles to explain Chinese history and onscreen identification of characters.

The film was heavily promoted, with front-page reviews and full and half-page advertisements over several days in the New York Times.

Wong and the film were written about extensively in the Los Angeles Times and movie legends Martin Scorsese and Jack Nicholson endorsed the film.

It has grossed $3.6 million, a very decent income for a Chinese film in the US. But this paled in comparison to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero. Both grossed more than $50 million.

Rosen suggested Chinese filmmakers should not worry about soft power through films at present.

Jiang remains optimistic.

He has been developing a script based on an incident in San Francisco in the 1980s, when a Chinese noodle shop and an Italian pasta restaurant went head-to-head.

His company lost $4 million in the first two years distributing Chinese films in North America. But he is unbowed.

"It needs time to find a good story that audiences identify with," he said.

His optimism stems from the fact that he believes talent and expertise will win through in the end and besides, the industry is about happy endings.