SHANGHAI, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Director Jia
Zhangke said he wasn't expecting to scoop box office success with his Venice
Golden Lion Best Film Still Life.
Still Life will be released nationwide on Dec. 14, but a number of homemade commercial movies, including director Zhang Yimou's new release "Curse of the Golden Flower", will
be hitting Chinese screens at roughly the same time.
"Still Life may not stay in cinemas for long. It's
impossible to compete at the box office with the likes of 'Curse of the Golden
Flower'," Jia said at a press conference in Shanghai Wednesday.
The movie tells the story of two separated couples in
the Yangtze River town of Fengjie and how they deal with the relocation of the
town to make way for the Three Gorges Dam, the world's biggest hydroelectric
project.
"Too many Chinese movies focus on commercial gain and
entertainment. I want to portray the struggles of China's working class, and to
express my concern for ordinary people," Jia said.
Jia's previous movies were not well received by
Chinese audiences because of his documentary style and weak story lines.
The 12-million-yuan The World recovered just over
one million yuan (125,000 U.S. dollars) in domestic box office sales last year,
though it won 4 international awards including Best Feature Film and Best
Cinematography at the Sixth Las Palmas International Film Festival.
Jia's Pickpocket (1997) and Platform (2000) were
not permitted to screen in China.
By contrast, Chinese director Feng Xiaogang's latest
commercial epic "The Banquet" had raked in 100 million yuan (12.5 million U.S
dollars) in China by the end of September, two weeks after its nationwide debut.
"Movies are an art form and should not be evaluated
only in monetary terms," said Jia Zhangke, "I don't hold high box office
expectations for my work."
Low-and-medium-budget homegrown movies often have
difficulty achieving satisfactory box office sales in China and tend to be
yanked quickly from cinema screens.
Chinese filmgoers are unsophisticated and impatient
with anything that does not achieve quick commercial success.
A record 260 films were made in China last year but
only 90 actually made it to the screen. Of those, many were withdrawn a few days
after release due to a lack of interest.
