Hawai'i, China film festivals connect
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
The Hawaii International Film Festival and Shanghai International Film Festival have linked up as sister events, guaranteeing Hawai'i unprecedented access to Chinese feature films.
The arrangement is the first between a Chinese and an American film festival, said Chuck Boller, HIFF executive director.
Boller visited the Shanghai festival last month, negotiating the arrangement. "The Shanghai event will send a delegation of four to our event this fall, and we'll send a group of four to Shanghai in June 2003," Boller said. "We're officially now sister festivals."
The Shanghai delegation likely will include Xiameng Chen, director of SIFF, and Yongde Zhu, his superior and head of the board of directors. Boller is in the midst of assembling a Hawai'i delegation.
Both festivals will share information and help each other acquire and showcase their country's best films. Chinese features long have been a popular staple at HIFF, with "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Purple Silk" as prominent examples.
"SIFF has been partnering with Berlin, Rotterdam, Cannes, Toronto, but not with an American festival," Boller said. "So this is kind of a big deal. What excites me further is the fact that they'll send tours here, assembled in Shanghai, and we hope to send tours there."
Boller spoke at the Shanghai University School of Film and Television on how to mount a festival, and also addressed the Beijing Film Academy. As a result, both groups have expressed interest in extending the partnership with educational institutions in Hawai'i, such as the planned film school at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa. The academy is an integral resource in Chinese filmmaking; it has trained such top directors as Zhang Yimou and actresses such as Gong Li.
A two-year trial relationship will be in place, Boller said, with the likelihood of a long-term partnership. The planners will trade off ideas and ways in which both festivals would be improved. Boller said he hoped that more Chinese features would be subtitled in English, for wider interest and appeal among English-speaking viewers.
The Shanghai event is huge, showing 400 films this year, compared with HIFF's 180 shown last year, Boller said. "They're more international in scope; ours focuses on Asian and Pacific films."
Former Hawai'i resident Phil Bossart, who is with a group called China Hawaii Investment Corp. in Shanghai, has begun mounting travel packages and other business deals benefiting both festivals. Already, 25 from China have expressed interested in attending HIFF's screenings this fall; "we'll treat them like special audience members, providing them with flash passes," Boller said. A reciprocal tour will be arranged for a Hawai'i contingent.
Boller emerged as a celebrity of sorts when he attended the SIFF events wearing an aloha shirt. He was interviewed at the opening- and closing-night festivities, beamed by China Central Television, Shanghai TV and Beijing Television.
When last year's "Purple Sunset" Chinese film won HIFF's Blockbuster Video Audience Award, the win prompted an interruption during a nationwide newscast in China. "You can't beat that kind of publicity," Boller said.
