A songbird's quest

The Nightingale stars veteran actor Li Baotian and Yang Xinyi as his granddaughter. Photo provided to China Daily

China-France co-production 'The Nightingale' to debut

A surprise Oscar bid

"It came as a total surprise to me when it was chosen to compete," says Ning Ning, the movie's Chinese producer. "We dare not expect it to get the award. But we tried our best in making the film, and the result relies on destiny."

She explains that because domestic family comedies are rare on China's big screens, making the movie made sense. "When I go to the cinemas with my children, I merely want something more than cartoons," Ning says, looking emotional, with her two daughters by her side.

"Of course, we want the film to be profitable," says Hao Bin, chairman of Smi Corporation, one of the movie's major investors. "However, we expect more of fine public praise."

The company's previous all-star biographic, The Golden Era, generated a lot of buzz but didn't make much money.

"Art house productions like The Golden Era and The Nightingale should represent another form of Chinese cinema's rising power," he adds.

According to Paul Delbecq, the film's French producer, after The Nightingale was screened in France in May, it earned more than $1.15 million at the country's box office, which isn't a bad number for a foreign language art-house production, and it was well-received by critics.

China and France signed an agreement encouraging bilateral co-production in movies in 2010, but this film is only the second one after Wang Xiaoshuai's Eleven Flowers (2012) in the post-deal period.

"People cannot emphasize too much the number of co-produced films," Delbecq says. "We begin a project only when we find the theme and script are suitable for cooperation to ensure quality."

He admits that many French audiences have a stereotypical understanding of China because portrayals of China on their country's big screens are mostly negative.

"But this time, they see a true and positive image and find Chinese families are facing the same problem as theirs. That will immediately close the psychological gap."