China, India to start new collaboration on film projects

Chinese and Indian filmmakers announced three film co-productions on Friday at a press conference in Beijing during the ongoing Beijing International Film Festival.

The three key Sino-Indian projects include "Like Stars on Earth," a new Chinese adaptation of the Indian actor-and-director Aamir Khan's classic of the same title; Siddharth Anand's action film "The Jewel Thief" produced by China's Peacock Mountain Films with Han Sanping as executive producer; and Kabir Khan's comedy "The Zookeeper" about a young Indian man's incredible journey to China.

Liu Quan, chairman of Creastar, shared his vision and the development of China-India co-productions at the press conference. As the leading figure in Chinese-Indian cultural exchanges, Liu said his company will bring new forms of cooperation and support to its Chinese film peers. In addition to the three film projects, his company can also offer its counterparts assistance in the entire value chain of film-making. This includes the areas of sourcing for artists, filming, marketing and promoting films.

The Indian movie producer and distributor Parsad Shetty, and a partner of the Indian talent management agency KWAN, also introduced possible models of cooperation in various fields including actors, directors and screenwriters, and promised he would strive to jointly create a "brilliant" future for Chinese and Indian films.

Liu added that a film culture exchange association has been created between both countries with support from the Chinese government, "We hope that through this association, the filmmakers of China and India will grow closer. Together, we can interact with and learn from each other, we also hope that more filmmakers will join it. We will work together to achieve win-win results and contribute to further cooperation between China and India."

(CHINA DAILY)