Chinese film-makers have been taking advantage of their country's profuse traditional culture in recent years and have produced some of the most creative and artistically consummate movies on the world stage, Serge Lorsique, director of the Montreal World Film Festival said.

 

With its 5,000-year history, a colorful culture rooted in its various ethnic groups, and sweeping societal changes, China provided an incredibly rich environment for artistic creations including film making, the director said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency during the ongoing 30th Montreal World Film Festival.

 

Contemporary Chinese film-makers had been well aware of this, Lorsique said. They had been trying to explore and describe the many aspects of their country's past and present, presenting the world audience with many outstanding movies marked with uniquely Chinese characteristics.

 

In screening techniques, Chinese film artists had also begun to explore new things on their own, and some had done very well. For example, the film The World Without Thieves directed by Feng Xiaogang reached such a high level in every aspect of its screening technique that it could be an example for others to learn from, the director said.

 

"I believe in the next five or ten years, Chinese cinema will occupy a more important role on the world scene," the director predicted.

 

The 75-year old film expert, who has been to China dozens of times and traveled widely within its borders, has a profound knowledge of the country. "I know China better than you do," he told Xinhua's reporter jokingly.

 

Amazed by the fact that Chinese silk has so deeply penetrated into the lives of Western people, the director shot a six-part documentary two years ago on the Silk Road, the world's first commercial route which started in China more than 2,000 years ago.

 

The documentary was screened on Canadian television this spring and was very well received, the director said proudly.

 

What concerns the great lover of Chinese culture is that the treasure of China's history is far from being fully discovered. For instance, he said, the Ming Tombs, tombs of the emperors in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD) located near Beijing, were only discovered very recently. Even the Terra Cotta Warriors in the tomb of China's first emperor Qin Shihuang (259-210 BC), were only discovered accidentally by a farmer who was looking for water in 1964.

 

Similarly, if Chinese film makers want to fully tap the rich cultural heritage of their country, they must continue to work hard in terms of exploring and presenting that potential that is within their nation and themselves, he said.

 

"I am very confident (in the future of) Chinese cinema. The only question is its business side. There are so far no great marketing people (involved). But I believe they will learn and do it very well at last," the director said.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 28, 2006)