The 26th Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF), taking place from Sept. 27 to Oct. 12, has paid special attention to Chinese cinema by setting up a spotlight program on China in its expanded "Dragons & Tigers: The Cinemas of East Asia" series.

As many as 34 films made in China or about China are being shown, including 13 films from mainland China, 4 from Hong Kong, and 17 internationally produced films which either are in Chinese language, or cover topics of Chinese relevance.

"As a Pacific gateway city, it just makes sense culturally for Vancouver to focus on Chinese cinema," Festival Director Alan Franey explained to Xinhua during a recent interview in Vancouver.

As China rises to become one of the next world's major power, adopting the slogan "Go East" seems more fashionable than ever in Canada. As the Canadian gateway to Pacific Asia, British Columbia is better positioned than any other regions, both geographically and demographically, to take advantage of the enormous economic opportunities present in China, he said.

The wide array of selections in VIFF's "China in the Spotlight" include: award winning titles such as Ang Lee's Lust, Caution (Golden Lion, Venice Film Festival 2007), and Bill Guttentag's Nanking (Documentary Film Editing Award, Sundance Film Festival 2007), and Jiang Wen's The Sun Also Rises, an operatic tale of love and madness.

Chinese cinema is no doubt flourishing, Franey said, using the 15th century Italian Renaissance as an analogy. He believes the reason why so many great art is created during this period of hardship, is partly due to the variety of stories there are to tell." Same is in China, the exoticism of ancient tradition, the social diversity, and the cultural dynamism of the country naturally allows for many interesting stories to tell."

Franey pointed out that although there is no national style or theme in Chinese cinema, the Chinese film makers are in effect creating a film language of its own, the kind of language that gives film makers reasons to tell a story.

Newly-appointed Programmer of "China in the Spotlight" Shelly Kraicer agrees that this year in particular is a good year for Chinese cinema. In fact, the hardest part of his new job was "to narrow the films down, and to pick out only the best of the bests to reflect the true picture of the exciting film creations in China", he told Xinhua in a separate interview in Vancouver.

While not disputing the fact that Chinese cinemas are gaining increasing international recognition in recent years, Kracier acknowledges it is hard for international audiences to grasp the full picture of what is really happening in the circle of Chinese film makers. Chinese cinema is still too often associated with Hollywood blockbusters starring Jet Li and Gong Li, for example, and these box office hits are not representative enough for film critics to give Chinese cinema on the whole a fair grade, he said.

According to Franey, cinema has always been an effective medium for cultural insight. The world will continue to look upon Chinese cinema as an increasingly important vehicle for cultural understanding and exchanges with China.
 
(CRI.cn October 10, 2007)