China Focus: Cinematic exchanges across silver screens add color to China-U.S. cultural ties

XIAMEN, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) — Chinese cinephiles can take a time-erasing trip down memory lane as 30 years after “Forrest Gump,” Tom Hanks and Robin Wright reunite with director Robert Zemeckis in his new movie featuring cross-age technology and are “magically” young again onscreen.
Zemeckis debuted his latest film “Here” in Xiamen, a coastal city in eastern China, on Nov. 15. While not a sequel to the Oscar-winning “Forrest Gump,” it tells a touching tale of love, loss, laughter and life.
The premiere held during the recently concluded 2024 China Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival provided the audience with a nostalgic mix of the past and current cutting-edge innovation while also highlighting the long-standing film exchange tradition between China and the United States.
CONVERSATION BETWEEN CHINA, U.S. FILM MASTERS
“We will always remember that line, ‘Run, Forrest, run,’ in ‘Forrest Gump.’ I think it’s fair to say the director created an epic of an era,” remarked acclaimed Chinese filmmaker Chen Kaige, who won this year’s Golden Rooster Best Director award. Chen made the remarks during a seminar featuring a conversation between him and Zemeckis at the film festival.
Both “Forrest Gump” and “Here” share timeless stories with universal themes that transcend time and location. After attending the premiere on Friday, 27-year-old Wang Yanglin, an avid fan of Zemeckis, told Xinhua, “Forrest’s optimism has always inspired me through the tough times in my life, and today’s new film touches on a similar theme — chasing dreams fearlessly because time truly flies.”
At the seminar, Zemeckis said that one of the most anticipated standout features of “Here” is its groundbreaking digital makeup, a technique that wouldn’t have been possible just five years ago, let alone executed as flawlessly and seamlessly as it is in this film. “We were truly at the perfect place and the perfect time to make this film,” he added.
In recent decades, technological advancements have dramatically transformed the film industries in both China and the United States, with AI-powered visual effects now a staple in many films. This evolution has sparked significant discussions and knowledge sharing between Chinese and American filmmakers.
“At the end of the day, all human artistic activities revolve around humanity. It is especially the case for filmmaking, as the kind of authenticity that comes from real life and existence is truly invaluable,” Chen noted, while emphasizing the significant challenge of balancing artistic vision with technological advancements, stressing that the latter should support, not suppress, the former.
Fully recognizing this challenge, Zemeckis believes that cinema has always been a blend of technology and artistry. As the industry transitions into the digital age, he remarked that “everything is gonna all come back to the basics, which is story and character.”
CHANGES, CHALLENGES, CHANCES
Other challenges are also emerging in the global film market as traditional cinema, an offline cultural experience, is now confronted with fierce competition due to the fast-growing popularity of short videos and online entertainment, which have become ever more ubiquitous and tend to dominate people’s leisure time.
The 2024 summer box office in China fell short of expectations, with a 44 percent decline from the previous year — sending ripples through the world’s second-largest film market.
On the other side of the ocean, U.S. box office revenue in 2024 is projected to be 10 percent lower than last year, according to Box Office Pro, a global cinema industry publication, and it will struggle to reach the pre-pandemic yearly sales level.
“A common challenge faced by the Chinese and American film industries is that during the pandemic, people gradually developed a dependency on online streaming content. After the pandemic, this shift in consumption habits has posed challenges for the film industries in both countries,” Liang Junjian, associate professor at Tsinghua University, told Xinhua.
As they navigate similar challenges, the film industries in China and the United States are paying closer attention to each other — drawing on mutual insights, and exploring collaborative opportunities.
At the 45th American Film Market (AFM) held earlier this month in Las Vegas, Nevada, the “China Film Joint Pavilion” hosted by China Film Group showcased Chinese films, garnering considerable interest from industry professionals.
Fu Ruoqing, chairman of the China Film Group Corporation, told Xinhua that Hollywood studios, including Warner Bros, Universal, Sony and Disney, have shown interest in distributing Chinese films and forming partnerships.
At this year’s China Film Golden Rooster Awards ceremony, “Oppenheimer,” a biopic written and directed by British-American filmmaker Christopher Nolan, won the Best Foreign Language Film award. The award was established in 2021 to align with international standards and attract outstanding film works from various countries. The film chronicles the life of American scientist, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and his pivotal role in the development of the atomic bomb.
“Film festivals and awards represent a real opportunity for cultural exchange and development,” Richard Allen, chair professor of the School of Creative Media at the City University of Hong Kong, told Xinhua while attending a forum on film education and industry held at Xiamen University during the 2024 China Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival.
“In principle, both China and the United States should be interested in marketing their film works in each other’s markets, because the profits to be made are potentially much larger to the two countries if they collaborate rather than compete against each other,” the professor said.
INSIGHTS, INSPIRATIONS, INFLUENCES
Since “The Fugitive” became the first Hollywood film into China on a revenue-sharing basis, followed by “Forrest Gump” a year later, the exchange of cinematic works between China and the U.S. has flourished.
Many film experts interviewed by Xinhua agree that while Hollywood films are not as popular in the Chinese market as they were a decade ago, some excellent films still attract significant Chinese audiences. At the same time, the Chinese film market remains open to introducing a broader range of international films showcasing diverse cultures and genres.
Chinese films, meanwhile, have been trying to expand overseas. In the early 2000s, Chinese director Zhang Yimou’s “Hero” found box office success in North America. In recent years, the film adaptation of Chinese sci-fi author Liu Cixin’s novel “The Wandering Earth” penetrated the North American market and caught the attention of mainstream American media.
Through such exchanges, cinema continues to serve as a potent medium for cultural exchange between China and the United States, fostering mutual understanding and deepening each nation’s appreciation of the other.
“Film plays an indispensable role in facilitating China-U.S. cultural and people-to-people exchanges,” said Raymond Zhou, a seasoned Chinese film critic. “‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ remains the highest-grossing non-English language film in North America, and its martial arts director Yuen Woo-ping was also invited to contribute to the action sequences in the American film ‘The Matrix.'”
At the film festival in Xiamen, many young filmmakers demonstrated an extensive understanding of the film histories of both China and the United States. Through rich dialogues and exchanges of ideas, they gained valuable insights that are likely to influence their future creative endeavors.
Attending this film festival for the first time, Edward Drake, a young director from the American film industry, told Xinhua that he gained a lot of inspiration from watching the conversation between Chinese director Chen Kaige and American director Robert Zemeckis.
“It’s fascinating to see two incredibly different filmmakers from China and the United States united by their shared commitment to telling great stories about the human condition. They approach their craft from distinct Eastern and Western perspectives. That’s the beauty of film — it can transcend cultural boundaries, bring people together, and is all rooted in our shared humanity,” he said. ■