Yang Mi wins Best Actress award for role in sci-fi film
HOUSTON: Actress Yang Mi has been named Best Actress for her role in the sci-fi movie Reset.
At the WorldFest International Film Festival here, Reset also won the Remi Best-in- Show award.
Said Yang, who was on stage to receive the award: “I have not attended that many film festivals. I am much honoured to be awarded. More and more people are paying attention to Chinese films, thanks.”
More than a hundred industry insiders from China were present, including actress Lisa Lu and actors Sun Chun and Wang Luoyong.
Reset, with Jackie Chan as its supervising executive producer, tells the story of a mother who travels back in time twice in order to save her only son. It’s scheduled to be released in China in June. The screening in Houston was its world premiere.
“This is our first try at a scifi movie,” said Jason Huang, executive director at New Clues Film which produced Reset. “We did 2,000 special effects frames, but we know it’s a far cry from Hollywood’s big budget action films. Our budget was only US$ 20 million while most Hollywood movie budgets start at US$ 200 million. Despite that, we did our best.”
Huang said Reset focused on the creative sci-fi idea behind the story of a mother and son rather than on action and special
I have not attended that many film festivals. I am much honoured to be awarded. More and more people are paying attention to Chinese films, thanks.
effects.
At the summit, Michael Berry, a professor of contemporary Chinese cultural studies at UCLA, recounted the history of the sci-fi and fantasy genre in Chinese cinema and what’s likely to come in the future.
While predicting the genre will increase in popularity, Berry cautioned the industry not to rush too blindly into it and a solid story remains the key to a good movie.
The sci-fi and fantasy genre has become a focus of WorldFest Panorama China, attracting many scripts with production potential.
Liu Xiaolin, chairman of WD Pictures and a host of the summit, said that China has surpassed the US in number of movie screens.
“The summit discussion was very fruitful,” Liu said. “With all the discussion on technique and bridging the cultural difference, we agree that the future is bright for China-US cooperation.”
Yang Mi, actress