Among the honors to be bestowed at the Cannes Film Festival, let's not overlook the technical skills that make movies possible. This year, Chinese director Gao Xixi is among jurors for the festival's Vulcan Award. Let's hear from him now.
Gong Li at the Cannes Film Festival
The Vulcan Award, given to a technical artist, was created in 2003. It rewards a technician who worked on a film in the festival's official selection. On the special jury this year is famed Chinese director, Gao Xixi.
"I chose an outstanding Chinese film-maker who is representative and capable. It's good for China-France movie cooperation," said Pierre William Glenn, President of Superior Technical Commission of Image & Sound.
The Chinese film market has become the world's second largest, notching up a phenomenal 30% increase year-on-year in box-office revenue.
And technical expertise has played an important role in cooperation between Chinese and Western film-makers. In the next couple of days, Gao will cast HIS vote.
"They're looking to me to evaluate artistic ideas in combination with technical skills. These are the criteria that will determine which movie wins the prize," said Chinese director Gao.
Gao is famous in China mostly for his TV series, but he also has films in development which he hopes to bring to Cannes himself.
"I may bring two movies of my own next year. This year, I'm here to get to know about it. I'm coming again on July the 15th, as I'm the honorary president of another China-France micro movie award," said Gao.
In recent years, Chinese film-makers have raised their profile at international film festivals. At Cannes last year, rights for the Chinese animation movie, 'Monkey King: Hero is Back', sold for more than US$2 million.
