Chen Zhen (Feng Shaofeng) enjoys the company of his "pet" pup in “Wolf Totem.” (Photo : Movie Trailers/YouTube)
All signs point to "Wolf Totem," a film co-produced by China and France, becoming China's entry for the Academy Awards Best Foreign Language Film category, after it was announced that another contender, "Mountains May Depart," lost the bid on Tuesday.
The producers of "Mountains May Depart" posted on Weibo that their bid to represent China at the Academy Awards was unsuccessful. The announcement ended the competition between the film directed by Jia Zhangke and "Wolf Totem," directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud.
The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) has yet to give its final decision and announce what film will represent China at the Academy Awards. It has until Oct. 1, the deadline for the foreign language film category.
However, according to a report by the Hollywood Reporter, a U.S.-based online entertainment news portal, an anonymous source from China's Film Bureau has already revealed that "Wolf Totem" will be China's official entry.
If ever it is chosen, "Wolf Totem" will become the second China-France co-production in a row to be submitted, after China submitted Philippe Muyl's "The Nightingale" last year.
Based on a popular Chinese novel of the same name written by Lu Jiamin, "Wolf Totem" tells the story of a young man's relationship with the wolves of the Inner Mongolia grasslands.
The last Chinese entry to be nominated for the foreign language film award was Zhang Yimou's "Hero," which was nominated in 2003.
China has never won the award.
For the film, Annaud was hired after the producers could not find a Chinese director who was willing to work with real wolves. The producers chose him because of his experience with animal films, namely "The Bear" and "Two Brothers."
In order for Annaud to direct the film, China removed its ban on him entering the country, which has been in place since 1997 after the director's controversial film "Seven Years in Tibet" was disapproved by the Chinese government.
The 71-year-old French director has spent the last four years in China, especially in Beijing and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. During this time, he trained 35 wolves with Canadian trainer Andrew Simpson and producer Xavier Castano.
The Mongolian wolves depicted in the novel are rare, and adult wolves are difficult to train. The film's crew had to raise wolf cubs to adults, making sure they grew accustomed to the people and film equipment without being scared.
Feng Shaofeng, the star of the film, also expressed how difficult it was to work with the wolves.
"I was so nervous," said Feng. "The feeling was like I was requesting the approval of a superstar, who would ask the director to cast me aside immediately if he doesn't want to work with me."
