In Australia,Chinese films are making a splash Down Under. And an official in charge of China's film industry has pledged to step up its marketing campaign next year. He made the remark on the opening ceremony for the Chinese Film Festival in Australia Tuesday night.

The 2003 Chinese Film Festival coincides with the ushering in of the Christmas season. The poster of Chinese mega-star Gong Li boosts the holiday mood in Sydney Bay.

This is the second stop of this Chinese film tour, following its show in New Zealand. The delegation headed by Vice Minister of State Administration of Radio, Film and Television Zhao Shi has brought six recent productions of young Chinese directors: Zhou Yu's Train, Green Tea, Fighting the Torrents, The Story of Lotus, Life Show and The Missing Gun.

The Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Film Festival spoke enthusiastically about having more Chinese films showing in Australia.

He said:" We want to see more and more exchanges between China and Australia. Already in 2002, five Australian films went to the Shanghai Film Festival. At my festival, the Sydney Asia-Pacific Festival, we always see a number of great Chinese films. We want to see more and more those sorts of films. What we really like to see is that we can distribute Australian films in China, Just like Chen Kaige's TOGETHER, Tian Zhuangzhuang's SPRING TIME IN A SMALL TOWN are distributed in Australia."

Despite Chinese movies winning awards at international festivals, industry officials say there's much to be done in promoting the works commercially.

Deputy Director General of Film Bureau, SARFT Wu Ke said: "We are actually commericalizing our film festival this time. Interested movie goers can buy tickets at the box offices. In cooperation with CCTV-6, we're going to set up an overseas marketing center to sell films abroad. This, together with the overseas film festivals, will give us two wings to fly with."

Administration officials are making the switch from social educators to entertainment business people, who are soon to face the relentless Hollywood invasion endorsed by the WTO.

(CCTV December 4, 2003)