BRICS coproduction hits mainland screens

Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke promotes Where Has Time Gone?, the first BRICS countries' coproduction, in a Beijing event. [Photo provided to China Daily]

During a recent event to promote his new movie Where Has Time Gone?, director Jia Zhangke says the film has received acclaim in several overseas international film festivals.

The movie, an anthology of five short stories, marks the first coproduction of five BRICS countries and is directed by filmmakers from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Jia, who shot to global fame for winning the Venice Film Festival's top award, the Golden Lion, for Still Life in 2006, is the movie's executive producer and director of the Chinese short story titled Revive.

The movie opened across the Chinese mainland on Oct 13. But like most of Jia's previous films — which won acclaim in the West but failed on the mainland — Where Has Time Gone? raked in just 4.6 million yuan ($695,000) till Oct 23.

Chinese story Revive is directed by Jia Zhangke in Where Has Time Gone?, the first coproduction of BRICS countries. [Photo provided to China Daily]

"The five BRICS nations have unique and rich cultures which makes the collaboration very interesting," says Jia, during the event at the Beijing Film Academy.

He also says that work on his new movie Ash Is the Purest White will begin in November.

He says the new production will adopt the road-movie storytelling style as it covers a tour, which starts in Datong in Shanxi province, and then covers the Yangtze River and the deserts in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

"Nowadays, people lead a life full of travel, and most people leave their hometowns to pursue a better life. The movie wants to explore this," says the 47-year-old filmmaker.