To welcome the upcoming November 2016, which is the U.S. Los Angeles “Month of Chinese American Film Festival,” the press conference took place at South Coast Plaza to announce the 12th Chinese American Film Festival on the 19th of October.
This is the first official press conference to announce the film selections for competition during the Chinese American Film Festival (CAFF) and the VIP guests from both China and US film industry. Chairman of EDI media and CAFF President James Su, along with Debi Bois, representative of Motion Pictures Association (MPA); Christina Antonovich, Co-chair of Chinese American Film Festval and wife of Los Angeles County Supervisor Jin Wang, Consul of the Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles; Craig Young, Mayor of the City of Yorba Linda; Xiulan Wang, City of Walnut Councilman; Tony Wu, City of West Covina Councilman; Lloyd Johnson, City of West Covina Councilman; Xiaolin Liu, President of Beijing Documentary Development Association and Chairman of Chinese Documentary Media Industry Group; Lianne Hu, famous Hollywood producer and committee member of CAFF; and many others attended and gave speeches at the press conference.
Besides the American Hollywood major studios who will participate in the 12th CAFF, many senior government officials and heads of state-owned entertainment groups are also honored guests of CAFF committee to participate in the 12th CAFF. Such guests include Guoqi Li, Deputy General of Film Bureau of State Administration of Press Publication, Radio, Film and Television(SAPPRFT); Zheng Yang, Deputy Director General of TV Drama Department of SAPPRFT; Ping Jiang, GM of China Film Group; Jijun Xue, Chairman of China International Television Corporation; Xiaotian Miao, President of China Film Co-production; Guoqin Gu, Head of China Film Promotion International; Junjie Teng, Secretary of Party Committee (Chief Editor) of Shanghai Media Group; Fuqing Cai, Chairman & Secretary of Party Committee of Zhujiang Film Group; Lun Zhang, Chairman of Yunnan Film Group; Liang Jin, GM of Shandong Film and TV Group; Sijie Chen, GM of SMG Pictures; Guohua Liu, Deputy GM of BAMC Entertainment; Xiaolin Liu, President of Beijing Documentary Development Association and Chairman of Chinese Documentary Media Industry Group; and others. With the full support of government, state and private entertainment companies from China, CAFF is the best platform to enhance the relations between the two nations and promote collaboration, communication and exchange between the two film industries.
During the press conference, President James Su announced the CAFF this year, besides awarding the Golden Angel Awards to the best movies and TV programs among all participants from both nations. CAFF also has a micro-film section, documentary section, musical opera film section, and variety show section for competition. At present, there are almost 500 works submitted for competition, of which several have been recommended for screening or to be screened in both nations. Such films include, “Operation Mekong”, “Soul Mate”, “ Lord of Shanghai”, “Birth of the Dragon”, “A Chinese Odyssey Part Three” and more. At the same time, some box office hits like, “Mermaid”, “Goodbye Mr. Loser”, “Saving Mr. Wu”, “Point Break”, “My Best Friend’s Wedding”, “Pali Road”, “Night Peacock”, “Tik Tok” have submitted entries to compete for the Golden Angel Awards this year.
Jin WANG, cultural consul of Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles gave the opening speech, “The grand annual cultural event, “The Chinese American Film Festival” is around the corner, just like many of our friends who have been so caring and supportive of the Chinese American Film Festival, I am looking forward to it so much! Through 12 years of constant development, The Chinese American Film Festival is once again listed as one of the high-level Sino-US cultural events of the year. In addition, as a testament to the achievements accomplished by CAFF, Los Angeles County named November the “Month of Chinese American Film Festival,” which affirms that there will be another splendid movie feast approaching us! Of course, the Chinese American Film Festival is not just a movie feast; it’s also a platform for cultural exchange, and an example of friendship between the two nations. We hope that Chinese and American filmmakers use The Chinese American Film Festival as a platform to have their communication and cooperation strengthened. I wish the Chinese American Film Festival a fruitful outcome all the meanwhile making new contributions to Sino-US cultural exchanges. Finally, I wish the Twelfth Chinese American Film Festival be a great success.”
In addition, the “Queen of Chinese Music” — Jane Zhang (Liangying Zhang) who had recently released her very first single, “Dust My Shoulders Off,” is going to be the ambassador of 12th CAFF and perform at the 12th CAFF Opening Ceremony “Golden Angel Awards.” Jane Zhang is the singer for several box office hit theme songs, such as, “Terminator Genisys”, “Painted Skin”, “The Banquet.”
Major official events of CAFF 2016:
31st Oct. Chinese American Film Festival Night, Golden Angel Awards Finalist Recognition Ceremony
1st Nov. Chinese American Film Festival Co-Production Summit, Chinese American Film Festival Film and TV Market
2nd Nov. Chinese American Film Festival Opening Ceremony, Golden Angel Awards Ceremony
3rd Nov. Chinese American Film Festival, Night of the Orient
3rd Nov. to 30th Nov. Chinese American Film Festival Selected Films Screening
On the 1st of Nov. Chinese American Film Festival Co-production Summit is co-hosted by the Producers Guild of America (PGA), China Film Co-production Corporation (CFCC). This year, the summit has added China-US TV co-production forum and China-US documentary co-production forum which are co-hosted by committee of CAFF and State Administration of Press Publication, Radio, Film and Television, and Beijing Documentary Development Association and Chairman of Chinese Documentary Media Industry Group. On the same day, committee of CAFF along with China Film Group will co-host Chinese American Film Festival Film and TV Market. On Nov. 2nd, the Golden Angel Award Ceremony will be rebroadcast jointly by more than 10 Chinese satellite television stations, such as Beijing Satellite TV. The CAFF Night of the Orient will be held on the evening of November the 3rd. During this night excellent films will be promoted. In addition, during the entire month of November there will be over 10 characteristic large special film events and seminars with over 200 film screenings in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Dallas, Salt Lake City and other cities across America.
Other attendees for the press conference are:
Jesse Weiner, committee member of CAFF; Hollywood Chinese and English bilingual entertainment & media lawyer
Yaoning Sun, committee member of CAFF; director
Sarah Li, Producer of participating film “Birth of the Dragon”
Jonathan Lim, Director of participating film “Pali Road”
Chris Nebe, Producer of Monarax Company, Director of film “Diaoyu Island: The Truth”
JJ Osbun, Photographer
Omar Akram, Grammy winner
Ken Davitian, Hollywood actor, producer
Klauz Menzel, Hollywood producer, director
Cary Woodworth, Hollywood Chinese and English bilingual actor
Hans Eric Hollstein, Director of Development of Legacy Pictures
Xinyue Chen, Song Liu, Wang Wei, Kuang Jun, Yanqin Lou, Yunyi Zeng, Xi Ling, Michelle Castro, representatives of directors and producers of participating films
Ping Zhang, Sales Supervisor of North American headquarters of Air China Airlines, 12th CAFF designated airlines
Brian Chuan, Director of Tourist & Trade Development of CAFF designated shopping center, the South Coast Plaza
Jeanelle Low, representative of The Bicycle Hotel and Casino, Gold Sponsor of CAFF
Jin Liu, COO of Leder Lighting
Phoenix Han, CEO of Leder Lighting
Chinese American Film Festival is jointly supported by State Administration of Press Publication, Radio, Film and Television, the US Motion Pictures Association, the Chinese embassy, and the Chinese Consulate at Los Angeles and San Francisco. CAFF is the only US-China cultural exchange project praised by two US presidents in writing, and is the only US-China cultural film activity formally recorded in the annual report of the U.S. Congress, becoming a part of the U.S. Congressional history. CAFF is the only representative of Chinese Film Market as overseas film festival to award the most popular American films in China. In recognition of the remarkable achievement of CAFF for continuously promoting cultural exchange between the two nations for 12 years, the government of Los Angeles County has named November the “Month of Chinese American Film Festival”, to celebrate the grand annual film and cultural event. Film and TV market, summit, opening ceremony, awards ceremony and screenings and various different activities that will take place in November during CAFF with the aim of further enhancing the collaboration and communication of film industry between the two nations.
For better interactions of audiences from both China and U.S., the CAFF committee has formed official member club called “CAFF Movie Club”, members of which can not only enjoy the screening of the best films from both nations, but also will have the chance to meet renowned producers, directors and actors from both nations, who will share knowledge of the industry. In addition, the members will have the chance to access various activities held by EDI Media and a chance to win a round-trip air-ticket between two nations! Meanwhile, CAFF committee welcomes business owners to be partners of CAFF movie club to offer our members with more privilege service and products. If you apply for the VIP member of our CAFF movie club before 31st Oct. your first year of annual fee will be waived.
For more information, please visit our website www.cafilmfestival.cn.
