People watch a free movie at an open-air cinema at a square after an earthquake in Wen'an County, Hebei Province of China on July 4, 2006. (Photo : Getty Images)
Chinese films are facing difficulties connecting with moviegoers overseas, according to a recent academic study.
In an annual report by the Beijing Normal University's Academy for International Communication of Chinese Culture (AICCC), more than 30 percent of respondents said Chinese films were "difficult to understand" and less than 40 percent shared values expressed in the films, according to China Daily.
Only 30 percent of the interviewees gave positive comments on "stories, performances and production of Chinese films," with nearly half citing strong self-defining characteristics in Chinese cinema, the report said.
The survey, which was released a week ago, said that one-third of the respondents said they generally weren't interested in watching Chinese films.
With the lack of similar research from China's film-governing bodies, the AICCC's annual report, which monitors the global influence of Chinese cinema, has become a recognized source of information on how well the country's films are received abroad.
The latest report covers 46 countries, particularly in the Eurasian region covered by the traditional Silk Road trade routes that connected China to Europe in ancient times.
Approximately 1,800 answer sheets in 31 languages were collected from filmgoers for the survey.
AICCC head Huang Huiling, the report's main author, said that traditional surveys based on in-depth interviews are more suitable to identify any problems in comparison with more popular big data analysis procedures of recent times.
"The status quo isn't good," Huang said. "To increase our influence overseas, the quality of Chinese films needs to improve."
"It also tells Chinese filmmakers to stick to their own features to win broader attention," he added.
The report also cited the lack of proper subtitles of Chinese movies; 70 percent of the respondents in the survey said they were unsatisfied with subtitles in their native language.
"To have quality subtitles, one will need to understand both Chinese culture and the culture of the foreign country," said Luo Jun, deputy head of the AICCC. "We need Chinese [translators] who know foreign cultures well and expats who have abundant knowledge of Chinese culture."
But foreign participation in producing subtitles is usually not enough, Luo said, as this often leaves Chinese films with literal translations that do not reflect context.
The situation is more embarrassing for lesser-spoken languages, he added.
Different regions along the ancient Silk Road vary greatly in terms of the understanding of Chinese films, Huang said of the survey.
Dai Yuanchu, a media researcher, said that while audiences with similar cultural backgrounds, such as those in Southeast Asia, can fill in the gaps in Chinese movies based on their own experiences, those living in farther regions will have more difficulty understanding the context of the film.
"People from a different region like Eastern Europe will probably not be able to catch nonverbal meanings in movies," Dai added.
Kung fu movies remained the most popular genre, but it is a slim lead over other genres, according to the report.
Chinese films can no longer purely rely on martial arts to win foreign markets, Huang said.
Not all is bad news, however, as the report noted the increasing popularity of Chinese documentaries in West Asia and North Africa, while horror films from China that are often ignored by domestic moviegoers were popular in West Asia and North Africa.
"Commercial packaging is necessary for Chinese films if they want to be better accepted, no matter what genre it is," Sha Dan, an expert with the China Film Archive, told China Daily.
Co-production is possibly one of the better ways to handle such issues, Sha added.
