China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Sino-Kazakh film scoops four Golden Screen Awards
LOS ANGELES — The Composer, a moving drama coproduced by China and Kazakhstan, won four titles at 2019 Golden Screen Awards in Los Angeles, the heartland of the global entertainment industry.
The film, following the true life story of one of China’s greatest composers, Xian Xinghai, was awarded the best coproduction film, best leading actor, best leading actress and best music, at the Saturday night’s annual black-tie event and awards ceremony.
The story is about the friendship between Xian Xinghai, who was stranded in Almaty, Kazakhstan, after the Soviet Union was invaded by Nazi Germany in 1941, and Kazakh composer Bakhitzhan Baykadamov, who provided Xian with shelter.
There Xian put down roots and composed some of his most famous pieces, including the symphonies
Liberation of the Nation and Sacred War, and the suites Red All Over the
River and Chinese Rhapsody for orchestra.
The Golden Screen Awards, co-hosted since 2016 by the Motion Picture Association Asia-Pacific, the China Film Co-Production Corporation, the US China Film & TV Industry Expo and the Hollywood
Reporter, was designed to shine a spotlight on coproductions between China and the rest of the world. Iris Wang, producer of The Composer and general manager of Shinework Pictures, says that the picture took crews from China, Kazakhstan, Russia and South Korea five years to complete, and involved more than 20,000 people.
“This film and these awards show how important and how excellent the cooperation between artists from different countries can be,” she said after collecting the award for best coproduction film. “We’re eager to create more cooperation opportunities in future.”
Her remarks were echoed by US and Chinese entertainment industry leaders at the ceremony.
“It is a wonderful event that goes to show what genuine opportunities there are for successful coproductions,” English-born producer, Ian Jessel, says, who has just successfully financed six films with Chinese backers.
“By bringing even greater attention and talent to the fast-growing industry, coproduction filmmakers have proudly enabled Chinese art and culture to influence the creativity and imagination of the entire world,” announces Bianca Chen, founder and CEO of UCFTI.
“This event is a great opportunity for us all to get together and celebrate the amazing films that were released last year — particularly the coproduction films. We’re all thrilled to be celebrating the honorees who are receiving their awards,” Mike Ellis, president and managing director of the MPA Asia-Pacific region, says.
“On the macro level there’s politics that sometimes goes on, but the film industry marches on and people support it and I’d like to think we are above the politics,” he says.
Chun Liu, general manager of the CFCC, says that the Golden Screen Awards provides an important platform for presenting Chinese and foreign coproductions, and for encouraging more cooperation.