Seeking to collaborate

Chinese actress Li Bingbing stars in the upcoming Sino-Australian movie Guardians of the Tomb. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Besides Girl of Ashima, the titles included Lost in Australia, the fourth installment of the hit franchise Lost; Young Dragon in Paradise, a coming-of-age drama about a Chinese immigrant family in Australia; Shimalaya, an aviation-themed feature set in World War II and The Docks, a period television program based on the true story of a Chinese sailor's love affair with a local racist politician's daughter in Sydney in 1878.

Redman, CEO of Harvest Pictures and producer of Lost in Australia, says the movie will have Hong Kong veteran Yip Wai-man, director of the franchise's first movie Lost on Journey (2010), on its producing team.

Currently, Yip is working with the Shanghai-based company Hiver Pictures to develop the story, which features adventures in Australia of several Chinese characters－an undercover agent, a romantic fool and a rancher.

Despite the growing interest of Australian filmmakers in collaborations, the total number of coproductions done till now is small.

Collen Champ, coproduction manager of the country's key funding body, Screen Australia, says Australia has coproduced 175 films with other countries, but only eight with China.

The movies include The Children of Huang Shi (2008), The Dragon Pearl (2011), 33 Postcards (2011) and the upcoming adventure movie Guardians of the Tomb, starring top actress Li Bingbing.

Champ says an upcoming sci-fi movie Bleeding Steel, which is a Chinese movie recently shot in Australia, shows that the country also has many picturesque locations and talent with post-production skills which the Chinese can use.

Bleeding Steel, led by Jackie Chan, is one of the biggest budget Chinese movies filmed in Australia.

The movie hired more than 250 Australians, saw 100 million yuan ($15.1 million) spent for the Australian leg and filmed in Australian locations for 28 days, according to Champ.

Miao Xiaotian, general manager of China Film Co-Production Corp, says coproduction has huge market potential in China, as five of the 10 top-grossing films in the country are coproductions.

"Coproductions are a short cut to win audiences from different cultures," he says.