Movies Tie China and France

Visiting French artist Jacques-Remy Girerd said he was astonished on the afternoon of April 10, when he took the stage to greet a packed house of enthusiastic film-goers in the movie theatre of the Great Hall of the National Committee of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference in Beijing.

They gave him a long standing ovation after the showing of the exquisitely crafted, poetic film  La Prophetie des Grenouilles (The Frog Prophecy), which took Girerd six years to make and is held by many to be a re-interpretation of the story of Noah s Ark.

I never dreamt I would one day come to this far away  Middle Kingdom to show my film. Nor did I expect that my film would win the hearts of so many Chinese cinema lovers,  said Girerd, a veteran film director/producer who has worked in the motion picture industry for 30 years.

Girerd came to China as a member of an official French film industry delegation, consisting of cultural and trade officials, film artists and producers. The delegation brought to Chinese audiences 10 French films produced in the past two years in the Panorama of French Films  festival, which ran from April 8-11 in the Chinese capital.

Of the films, five are directorial debuts and eight were released in France only late last year. The works are said to represent the newest and most active force in the French film industry.

The ongoing Chinese Film Exhibition that started in Paris last October and the Panorama of French Films  event are said to constitute the largest film exchange between the two countries in many decades.

They serve as a prelude to the 2004-2005 France Culture Year programme in China, under the framework of the China-France Culture Year initiative signed by then Chinese President Jiang Zemin and French President Jacques Chirac in 1999.

In the Chinese Film Exhibition in Paris, 110 films, including 20 from Hong Kong, have been screened in Paris, France since last October. Also in the upcoming Cannes Film Festival in May, there will be a Chinese Movie Day.

With the support of the Chinese Ministry of Culture, Unifrance, a film industry promotion and co-ordination body in France, and the French Embassy in China have co-sponsored this film event, an initiative that comes in response to the first signs of opening up of the Chinese film market, and is part of a long-term policy approach,  according to Unifrance chairperson Margaret Menegoz.