26 June 2006

NZ Film River Queen a Winner at the Shanghai International Film Festival Awards

River Queen's Karl Jenkins was awarded a prestigious Golden Goblet Award for Best Music at the closing ceremony of the Shanghai International Film Festival in China on Sunday night.

Robert Reece of Auckland based Dynasty Films, the China distributor for The River Queen, said tonight from Beijing that he was ‘absolutely delighted’ and congratulated all involved in the production on the award.

River Queen was one of only 17 out of over 700 films to be selected to be in competition by the Shanghai Film Festival International Jury, chaired by veteran French Director Luc Besson.

Dynasty Group is currently in preliminary negotiations to co-produce two upcoming projects with China Film Co-production Corporation following the award.

The 2006 NZ Film Festival in China Delegation Leader Michael Stephens accepted the award on Karl Jenkins’ behalf, and said he believed it was a further milestone in the growing Chinese appreciation of NZ films.

“This award bodes well for upcoming China-New Zealand film projects discussed with Chinese film studios and officials during the trip,’ said Mr Stephens.

“Following our meetings in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing there has been a high degree of interest in such joint film projects with New Zealand.”

Representatives from regional film offices in Waitakere and Wellington, in Beijing as part of the NZ Film Festival delegation organized by the Pacific Culture and Arts Exchange Centre, celebrated the award last night with officials from the State Administration for Radio, Film & Television (SARFT) and the New Zealand Embassy.

Chris Lipscombe from Positively Wellington Business, which oversees the Wellington regional film office, says this award is great publicity for the New Zealand film industry, not just in China but internationally.

“Shanghai is one of the top four or five international film festivals,” said Mr Lipscombe. “This kind of international recognition helps us in our pitch for location filming, digital effects and post-production. It also helps us to progress formal bilateral co-production agreements to encourage such projects in the future.”

China is currently negotiating several such co-production agreements, including one with
Australia.

ENDS

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