Hobbits give way to dragons with new movie deal

Matt Whelan and Michelle Ang in 'My Wedding and Other Secrets'. Photo / Supplied

The Lord of the Rings and Avatar may have put New Zealand on the world map, but the future of Kiwi-made films could be more like My Wedding and Other Secrets.

The romantic East-West culture clash comedy by local Chinese film-maker Roseanne Liang, about a New Zealand-born Chinese woman who falls in love and secretly marries a European man, opened last month as the first locally made film to screen in both English and Chinese, and with Chinese subtitles.

This will be the shape of movies to come, says Film Auckland executive manager Michael Brook as a growing number of Kiwi film-makers turn to China in the hope of making it big.

New Zealand signed a film co-production agreement with China last year aimed at boosting the film industry in both countries and at least half a dozen local film-makers are at various stages of obtaining funding or approval for a co-produced movie, according to Mr Brook.

There are huge gains to obtaining official co-production status because China's strict quota allows only 20 foreign films a year to be distributed commercially there, but a co-produced film would circumvent that.

Part of the requirement in getting that status was that at least a third of the cast must be Chinese and a theme that would interest viewers in both countries, Mr Brook said.

"Inevitably more movies will be like Karate Kid, which was partly funded by China, and less like Lord of the Rings as the Chinese become a more significant market."

China is poised to become the second-biggest movie market behind the United States, possibly breaking the 10 billion yuan ($2.1 billion) in box office takings in the next three years.

Film Auckland president Pete Rive said he started to "seriously consider" China as a potential partner after he led a delegation there in 2007.

"China is the fastest-growing industry on the planet ... we have seen film-makers from all over the world flocking to China because their box office grew 62 per cent from 2009 to 2010," Mr Rive said.

"I believe there is going to be a very exciting string of co-productions with China as we can deliver international movies with Chinese sensibilities ... the co-production treaty gives us a privileged position with China that not even Hollywood enjoys."

Paul Carran is a film producer who is hoping his production will secure a co-production deal.

His feature Dragon, Taniwha, about a Maori artist and a Chinese scientist in a quest for a solution to the intrusion of the dragon, Taniwha, has been in the making for four years.

"I foresee a shift where our creative film-making deals will be made in the future, and it may be early days yet, but the consistent efforts of the few will benefit the many in the New Zealand industry in the future," he said.

"Clearly the co-production treaty ... is an important building blockfor this to occur."

Jim He, chairman of the Pacific Culture and Arts Exchange, said, "Nobody thought much of the Chinese market a few years ago, but all that has now changed."

Mr He, who has been organising New Zealand film festivals in China since 2002, says My Wedding and Other Secrets is generating high levels of interest there.

"The Chinese can identify with the elements that the film portrays and how it brings the two cultures together," he said.

"The movie will be screened at the Shanghai International Film Festival and also received a nomination for the Golden Rooster Film awards."

Mr He said it was "common sense" for films to carry Chinese subtitles to capture a global audience and market share "because the Chinese are now everywhere".

SkyCity Cinemas began regular screening of Chinese blockbuster films when it started Cinema Asia in 2008, and that has continued under Event Cinemas' new management.

Like the annual Chinese Lantern Festival, which the organisers say has been steadily attracting more non-Chinese, the appetite for Chinese movies among mainstream New Zealanders is also growing - going by the assessment of South African immigrant Ben du Preez.

Cinema operators say they do not keep a record of the ethnicity of patrons but Mr du Preez, who has been a regular patron at Cinema Asia since he started dating his Chinese girlfriend two years ago, says he has noticed "more white faces" at the cinemas.

"I guess once you start watching a Chinese movie, it kind of just gets you hooked," he said.

"I used to think that Chinese films are only the arthouse type, but what's coming out of Chinawood now are just incredible, and they can easily rival any from Hollywood."

China-made movies such as Aftershock, a tear-jerker about the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, and The Founding of a Republic, a Chinese Government-commissioned film, have all been successes at the local box office.

The Founding of a Republic even beat all other movies in the week it opened in November 2009, occupying top spot in Queen St, St Lukes and Highland Park.