Film studio executives emphasized during a 5th Beijing International Film Festival forum the importance of paying attention to the details of the local film titles they export and promote abroad.
Chen Bin, senior vice president of DMG Entertainment and Media Group, reiterated: "The content of our films must first obey the target nations' local laws, customs and religious stipulations, and then we can talk about their artistic aspects."
Chen made the statement during the forum entitled, "Overseas Distribution and International Cooperation Trends in Chinese Films."
"Many American partners have complained to me before that in many Chinese films, when the lead actors get in a car in a scene, they never fasten their seatbelts. They might say, like, 'Driving without seatbelts is illegal in the United States, and if we import such films, we will have trouble with the police,'" he shared.
On this note, Chen said that Chinese films do not actually pay attention to such minute but vital details when filming.
Zhou Huachen, director of Zhejiang Huace Film & TV Company's international cooperation and creation department, shared the same sentiment.
Noting that foreign films comprise only a small 3 percent of films that get U.S. screening, he stated: "To get well-received results from this small percentage of films in the U.S. is very difficult. It will be a great pity if a film cannot get imported to the U.S. market due to the legal and content details."
JC Cheng, president of Fundamental Films who has a wide experience in importing English-language films into the country's market, also noted that the strict paying of attention of U.S. filmmakers to details is a good example for their domestic counterparts.
"There is no definition for a good film in the world, but we Chinese filmmakers should pay attention to and avoid the legal and local customs risks posed by the details of the content when a film is in its early stages of production," Cheng stressed out.