By Travis Johnson
A group of leading Chinese film industry professionals, including representatives from Perfect World Pictures, HeYi Pictures, one of China’s leading screenwriters, and representatives of award-winning Chinese Director, Zhang Yimou’s production company, have arrived in Sydney to begin what is being called an Industry Familiarisation Tour.
The tour, which extends across six states, will take various Australian locations, four major studio complexes, various post-production facilities and effects studios, and more. Organised by Ausfilm in conjunction with the Australian Embassy Beijing and Village Roadshow Pictures Asia, the tour is part of a concerted effort to attract Chinese production and, importantly, Chinese money to Australia. Screen NSW, Screen Queensland, Film Victoria, Screen West, the South Australian Film Corporation and Screen Tasmania are also on board,and will be facilitating their state’s leg of the tour.
Debra Richards, CEO of Ausfilm said, “We would like to see business and creative opportunities increase between our two countries and this familiarisation program aims to facilitate this. Filmmakers from Village Roadshow Pictures Asia, Perfect World Pictures, Tang Media Capital and HeYi Pictures all have exciting projects that are seeking potential Australian locations or post-production and visual effects services.”
This is an extremely interesting if arguably inevitable development. With Asia in general and China in particular so vital to global box office receipts to the point where the hallowed American first weekend is flagging in importance, it’s just good sense to court the Chinese industry, and co-productions are a way around China’s stringent foreign film quota (only 34 overseas films per year get released theatrically). Meanwhile, attracting domestic Chinese production to Australian facilities should bring plenty of work to our post-production sector. If there’s a caveat, it’s the potential for lucrative tax breaks and funding initiatives being used for the benefit of Chinese production houses rather than Australian projects – something that we’ve seen before with American shoots (hello, Pirates of the Caribbean 5). Still, at this stage the correct attitude is one of optimism.
