Director Chen Kaige speaks onstage at the "Caught In The Web" press conference during the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival on Sep 11.
(AFP/Getty Images/Alberto E. Rodriguez)
Internationally acclaimed Chinese filmmaker Chen Kaige, citing a "big cultural gap" between the East and West that makes foreign markets harder to crack, has urged his compatriots to make movies first for China's box office.
China's domestic market "is big and it's important to satisfy the Chinese audience first, just like Hollywood films (are) made first for American audiences, not really international audiences," Chen said at a press conference at the Toronto International Film Festival on Tuesday.
"I don't think there is a need for all Chinese-speaking films to be shown abroad," he said, urging Chinese filmmakers to focus on "the domestic market first."
The director of the Oscar-nominated movie "Farewell my Concubine" (1993), the first Chinese film to win a Palme d'Or at Cannes, is arguably in a strong position to promote Chinese films abroad and many Chinese expect that of him.
"The problem is that there is still quite a big cultural gap between East and West," he told reporters. "I'm not sure that Western audiences are that interested in films made in the East, honestly."
Similarly, Chinese audiences are "not interested" in movies made in Canada, or the United States or elsewhere. "They'll say, 'I'm not interested, I can't relate to those characters, and so on.' That shows that the culture difference is quite big."
Chen's comments shocked proponents of exporting Chinese culture and put him at odds with a growing trend of international cooperation on financing, production and distribution of films.
Hollywood and Bollywood, the world's largest movie industries, for example, in 2010 signed a landmark pact to boost cooperation for producing and distributing their films.
This has fuelled a swell of cross-border co-productions and star-swaps that led Bollywood superstar Anil Kapoor last year to say he "feels more alive" after starting fresh in Hollywood.
Chen, who switches between English and Mandarin with ease, last came to Toronto with his film "Together" in 2002, and is now back to seek international distribution for his new thriller "Caught in the Web."
The prescient fable about the dangers of cyber-bullying and online voyeurism has already been theatrically released in China and is scheduled to premiere internationally in Toronto on Wednesday.
The Toronto film festival, which runs through September 16, is the biggest in North America and has traditionally been a key event for Oscar-conscious studios and distributors.
"Caught in the Web" was a smash hit in China. Chen, however, is ambiguous about its potential to win over North American audiences, despite positive reviews.
The film opens with a beautiful young woman, Ye Lanqiu (Gao Yuanyuan) who has been diagnosed with advanced lymphatic cancer.
Numb with shock and hiding behind dark sunglasses, she is oblivious to goings-on around her on a crowded city bus and fails to register the conductor's persistent request that she give up her seat for an elderly pensioner.
A short video of the incident taken by another passenger goes viral, triggering a massive hate-mail campaign against the already stricken Lanqiu, turning her into a public 'pariah'.
Chen said he made the movie to capture the dramatic changes shaping China, such as the introduction of citizen journalism.
"We don't see (many films) about the changes taking place in China," he lamented. "That's why I wanted to do this film. It brings a very interesting new image of China and also a new message from a very complex situation there."