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THE BUSINESS STREET 2014

Maurizio Sciarra shoots a co-production with China

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- Agreement signed at the Rome market between Urania Pictures and Chinese Stephen Lam from Sil Metropole for a film written by Ni Zhen (Raise the Red Lantern)

Maurizio Sciarra shoots a co-production with China
Maurizio Sciarra

Italian director Maurizio Sciarra (The Kreutzer Sonata – What is love?Off to the revolution in a 2CV, Golden Leopard in Locarno) will film, in autumn 2015, in the region of Yunan, an Italian-Chinese co-production from a screenplay written with Ni Zhen, creator of global success Raise the Red Lantern by Zhang Yimou

The movie, entitled Everlasting Moments, is set in 1905 Shangai and tells the impossible love story of an Italian photographer and a Chinese girl who is doomed to an arranged marriage with a child (a custom of the time). The protagonists have not yet been determined. "It’s a story of female emancipation and of a European’s discovery of an unknown country. I can identify with him, in his attempt to gain a profound understanding of that immense land", explained Sciarra to Cineuropa. 

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The movie was born out of an agreement between producer Conchita Airoldi from Urania Pictures (We believed [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mario Martone
interview: Mario Martone
film profile
]
) and Chinese Stephen Lam from Sil Metropole (A Simple Life), signed after China Day, organized by The Business Street with Anica, Ice and MiBACT, as part of the Rome Film Festival.

"Ni Zhen was the one who spoke to me about this project", explained Stephen Lam. "I was struck by this passionate story, and I feel that it’s perfect for our market – So much so that I’ve convinced other Chinese investors to back the project. It’s an art house movie, we’re not focused on the box office, but on the symbolic value that this will have for both our cultures. I’m convinced that it will also be supported by our respective governments". 

"It’s going to be an equal co-production", added Conchita Airoldi, "and this agreement confirms that the Chinese industry is interested in our art house cinema".

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(Translated from Italian)

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