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Kungfu Movies Popular In Iran Director Stanley’s Master Studio Was Much In Demand

2015-5-8

Kungfu movies were popular in Iran  Director Stanley’s master studio was much in Demand

——The 33rd Fajr International Film Festival’s sidelights

The 33rd Fajr International Film Festival was held from April 25th to May 2nd in Tehran, the capital of Iran. Headed by President Stanley, China Film International (CFI) was the only Chinese film Production Company that officially invited by festival. The team was welcomed by the Iran’s Culture Vice Minister and the Chairman of Film Commission Hojatollah Ayoubi. During the festival, famous Hong Kong director Stanley Tong held a master studio together with the famous Polish director Krzyszto Zanussi. Stanley shared his thirty-five year’s film creative experiences and his understanding of the action films with the international film industry and young directors.

During the six hours master studio teaching process, director Stanley shared his film journey and creative experiences. He recalled that he raised $1 million from his family and friends for his debut feature; then he even went to a Pacific island called New Guinea for shooting cannibals. It was very difficult during the production process; fortunately, he completed the project at last. However, the film still lost 2 million Hong Kong Dollars. ‘I was very lucky that I got second chance offered by Raymond Chow, the President of Golden Harvest.’ he said, ‘I also had an opportunity to work with Jackie Chan, who was already a superstar at that time.’ Stanley reminisced the first time of working with Jackie Chan, and shared his experiences of working with superstar with young directors, which is valuable to them. He said, since then, they had worked together on six movies, and they knew each other so well that, sometimes, “we are like twins”. On site, Stanley unreservedly taught the young film creators of how to shoot the action films, such as, how to direct and act. He even impromptu guided the photographers of how to fully capture the actions, taught actors how to express themselves in front of the cameras and etc. The teaching session created a warm atmosphere, and attracted various international medias.

After the master studio, he mentioned in his interview that the only genre of film, which can travel in the world having a common language in all countries, is the action film. There would be no language and cultural barriers for audiences to accept it. Iran has so many stories and has a great culture, which is still unknown by world’s audience. So the best way to let the world know about Iran and its culture is through films. ‘You have to make the films that people like to see; action film would be a good choice.’ he said. When the reporter asked Stanley if there is any chance to co-production a film with Iran in the future, he gave a positive answer, and he said, ‘I come to Iran for having a look the local film market. I want to see how the market is doing, to see if there is any opportunity for the co-production films.’ In fact, Stanley along with his China Film International (CFI) team is committed to create a more open platform of international cooperation, to attract international film project to cooperate with China film international (CFI).

The festival invited more than a hundred professional international publishers and representatives from different international film festivals. They gather at the festivals to watch Iranian films and share international film production experiences. Chinese films also appeared on the festival, including special screening for “Coming Home”, directed by Yimou Zhang; “Factory Boss” (directed by Zhang Wei), the only film in the competition section; “Norjmaa” (directed by Bayaneruul) and “A Portrait of Snow Mountain” (Directed by Han Yue) etc. The master studio held by Director Stanley Tong was the most popular activity in the 33rd Fajr International Film Festival; the "Daily News" also reported this activity in three full-page with different angles.