Mainland film, TV industry eyes world stage

Yertay Nussipzhanov is confident a Chinese movie that caught his eye at the Shanghai International Film Festival will be his company’s next hit.
The Kazakhstani producer for REC Media was full of praise for “Genuine Love”, which is based on the real-life story of a Uygur woman in Xinjiang adopting 19 homeless children of various ethnicities.
Nussipzhanov believes the heartstring-tugging drama will be popular in Kazakhstan if dubbed in the local tongue.
He is typical of foreign producers who are increasingly interested in buying up Chinese films and TV programs, as China aims to make its film industry more international through rights deals and foreign co-productions.
The latest encouragement of this trend came as the Shanghai festival, which concluded on Sunday, held a symposium on dubbing Chinese films into foreign languages. People from 20 countries and regions attended.
Nussipzhanov said Kazakhstanis are hungry for Chinese productions, especially after a dubbed version of “A Bite of China”, a documentary series on Chinese cuisine, aired on national TV last year.
REC Media is now negotiating a deal that would allow Chinese drama series “Family on the Go” to be shown in Kazakhstan.
According to Nussipzhanov, the China-proposed “Belt and Road” Asian trade infrastructure initiative has been significant in both the practical side of international media partnerships and the cultural identification that creates demand for Chinese films and TV shows outside of China.
Actor Guo Tao, who plays the lead role in “Family on the Go”, said the fact it is set in China and abroad helps its international appeal.
Part of “Family on the Go”, the first TV drama co-production between China and an African state TV station, was shot in Tanzania.
Shanghai-based film producer Li Yifeng said such co-productions would become more and more common, leading to Chinese shows increasingly being introduced to the global market.
China exports about 10,000 TV program episodes a year. They have been sold to more than 100 countries.
While costume pieces dominate domestic TV schedules, international markets favor modern productions ranging from soaps to talent shows.
During the festival, sources with Singapore’s MediaCorp said it had introduced over 800 hours of Chinese TV programs to Singapore and that they all had high audience ratings.
Festival organizers said the event had seen Chinese producers engage in co-production or program-exchange talks with over 30 countries including Turkey, France, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. Xinhua