NEW YORK Sept 01, 2006  - It's six months away from the Oscars, but if you're an ambitious Chinese film company, the foreign-film award is the most immediate thing on your mind. Not only must Chinese features clear the government censors' examination and be released before October 1 to qualify for the award, they must also overcome one of the toughest hurdles of the Oscar race before even being sent out to compete.

In the ceremony's regulations this hurdle is written in bold: "Only one picture will be accepted from each country." In China, this translates into a governmental committee that screens the handful of competitive features and selects the one most likely to win. That film will then be expedited to Los Angeles by October 13.
 

Last year, this committee in China predictably anointed Chen Kaige's The Promise after its serious competitor, Zhang Yimou's Walking Alone for One Thousand Miles, graciously surrendered its place by announcing a December release date. At the time, The Promise benefited from the largest budget in Chinese film history: US$35 million.

This may be insignificant when compared with Mission Impossible 3's $150 million. But compared with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon's $15 million and Hero's $30 million, The Promise is an oversized production. Moreover, Chen Kaige (Farewell My Concubine) is one of China's two most renowned directors.

This year, the second of that renowned pair, Zhang Yimou (Hero, House of the Flying Daggers), has aggressively stepped into the Oscar race with The Curse of the Golden Flower. It is a $45 million co-production between Zhang Yimou's private production company, Edko Films, and Hong Kong's Elite productions (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon).

Highly anticipated in China and the United States, where distribution rights have been picked up by Sony Pictures Classics, the film was equivocally outlined as a court drama. The costume drawings suggest a sprinkle of martial arts. Headlining it are China's Nicole Kidman, Gong Li; China's Harrison Ford, Chow Yun Fat; and China's Kanye West, Jay Chou.

Zhang Yimou's production team completed his latest project in record time. Filming started on February 24 and finished in early July, almost a whole month in advance of schedule. By September 22, the first day of its small-scale test screening in Shenyang, post-production will have ended in a record two and a half months. In a phone interview last week, an Edko Films spokesperson confirmed that the feature will be released early to qualify for the Oscars.

Unlike Chen Kaige, who benefited from low-power competition in the 2005 selection's Chinese phase, Zhang Yimou is challenged by an unknown on the international scene: China's box-office champion, director Feng Xiaogang. His film is called The Banquet.
Although this feature's budget barely amounts to half of Zhang Yimou's titan, it is loaded with the same caliber of star talent. It features Memoirs of a Geisha's Zhang Ziyi, the spunky contestant to Gong Li's mantle, and Hong Kong cinema heartthrob Daniel Wu.

Like Curse of the Golden Flower, The Banquet's Hamlet-flavored plot entangles itself in the web of murder and deceit woven inside the Tang Dynasty's imperial court. Long bouts of venomous dialogue are punctuated by wirework somersaults amid crisp classic scenery.

The two films' content and talent have drawn the spotlight of the Chinese press on their tight race for the Oscars. Beginning in March, countless articles have pitted the two mega-productions against each other. Some, such as Sina's online op-ed, have concluded that neither of them offers the break from traditional Chinese wuxia (martial-arts drama) that 2007's Oscars thirst for.

Zhang Yimou has already secured his sunny spot in international film with his big-budget box-office hits. Feng Xiaogang has yet to make an international name for himself, or even venture into the Chinese big-budget arena. He has, however, won the recognition of Chinese film-goers through such annual winter comedies as Big Shot's Funeral and Sorry Baby. Setting out in the snow to see a Feng Xiaogang movie has settled into national tradition.

The late-1990s success stories of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Emperor and the Assassin spawned an entire generation of private Chinese film companies. In 2000, brothers Wang Zhonglei and Wang Zhongjun established Huayi Brothers Pictures. The company grew quickly because of such hits as Big Shot's Funeral and Kung Fu Hustle. The Wangs' first collaboration with director Feng Xiaogang in 2000, Sorry Baby, was the beginning of a long and fruitful professional relationship culminating in this year's co-production with Media Asia, The Banquet.

Zhang Yimou's Edko Films produced The Curse of the Golden Flower. Edko Films' spokesperson confirmed that China Film Group, the only government-owned distribution company in China, is the Chinese distributor. China Film Group distributes almost all of the Chinese mega-productions and most of the 20 foreign movies that make it into the country each year, such as The Da Vinci Code.

Which of the two production companies is most likely to sway the committee's decision? While Huayi Brothers Pictures is certainly not a newcomer to the field, it does not possess the mature international reputation of Edko Films. Its stellar growth has raised the eyebrows of Paramount and Miramax executives, but its name is not yet a guarantee of success. The North American distribution rights of The Banquet have not yet been sold. The US distribution rights of Curse of the Golden Flower were sold long before production wrapped.

Perhaps the decision-maker is even further behind the scenes, in the Chinese distribution companies. In that case, the situation is a face-off between Huayi Brothers Pictures' private distribution company and the government-owned China Film Group. Even though Edko Films denies any relationship between the China Film Group and the government committee, an Academy Award could certainly boost the reputation of the state-owned distributor. It would cement China Film Group's position in the Chinese film industry, strengthening it from the threatening wave of private film-company startups.

This situation harks back to the autumn of 2005. After Zhang Yimou's Walking Alone for One Thousand Miles had withdrawn from the Chinese Oscar race, the competition settled down to The Promise, distributed by China Film Group, and mini-production Ke Ke Xi Li, distributed by Huayi Brothers Pictures. Ke Ke Xi Li (aka Mountain Patrol) won five awards at international film festivals, while The Promise was left empty-handed. China's committee chose The Promise.

With two productions of equal quality, the committee's decision in 2006 will give an even clearer indication of which films the Chinese government supports. Will these be mega-productions of internationally renowned directors collaborating with the public sector or a more risky brand of big-budget productions walking the independent path? Either way, in a country where entertainment bows to the government, it's best to bet in the direction of the official nod.