22/10/2012 - Festival director Stefan Laudyn of the Warsaw International Film Festival and China's Film Factory founder Et Hu instigate new film exchange

Announced on Saturday (October 20) at the CentEast Market Warsaw, the Europe-China Promotion Project – instigated by festival director Stefan Laudyn (photo), of the Warsaw International Film Festival, and China's Film Factory founder Et Hu – took effect immediately. At the festival library, seven new features by young, independent Chinese directors were made available to film professionals.

The aim of the project is to channel Chinese quality films into international festivals and distribution, and introduce European cinema to Chinese audiences and the Chinese distribution cinema. Last year only 60 foreign features (not including Hong Kong and Taiwan) were theatrically released in China.

"We do not expect success overnight, but hopefully within the next ten years," said Laudyn, who has attached Russia's TVINDIE Productions and the film festivals in Tallinn (Black Nights), Sofia and Cluj (Transilvania) the initiative. "Initially we will select a package of European films for our Chinese partner, who will decide which to offer for festival and distribution."

Set up last year by writer-producer Hu, Film Factory is China's largest platform for independent filmmakers, where they can promote the films (last year 791 were produced in China), but also network and find crews for their new projects – and Hu wanted to further assist them to enter their movies in the international circuit.

"At the same time China is a very difficult market to the foreign film industry, and like – from our side - we want to help Chinese directors to screen their work in European festivals and art cinemas, we hope to create a window for European directors so their films are on show in China," explained Hu, a winner of the British Council's International Young Screen Entrepreneur Award.