Movies

Chinese blockbusters made in Bavaria

The Bavarian Alps are the backdrop for a Chinese movie. The blockbusters don’t want to skimp on the clichés: the Alps, the nobility, and fast German cars seem to arouse also in the case of Chinese aspirations.

Love, money, and nobility, these are the ingredients for a homemade home movie. If the play is still in the mountains, then the romance is pure – not only for the Germans. For the Chinese, Bavarian castles and snow-capped mountains are a place of longing. A little bit of Action but must be quiet. So production companies of the people’s Republic of China plan to work together with German partners in Bavaria, the movie “Love of the Alps”. The promises in addition to the Alps and the noble fleet of racing cars.

The Chinese Director Dan Tang was in Berlin, a student of Rosa von Praunheim

Director Dan Tang speaks of “mental Spa break” for the Chinese. Your ingredients for the Film a Chinese Empress, a German Prince and a master thief. As a true German Prince in fact, Prince Albert of Thurn and Taxis, will advise the Team. The 33-Year-old is not only a prominent representative of the high nobility, but also an avid racer.

Only Bollywood with Alpine flair, now China

The plot is convoluted, as in an Opera: The rich and naturally beautiful Tang Tang loves the 20-year-old Prince Edward, and both of you will love racing cars. Unfortunately, the family debt loads shoulders on Edwards, which is why he needs to win a big race. Master thief Xiaofei, in turn, a terminally ill mother that he wants to save, he steals from the Royal family, that is to say, Edward.

Unlike many operas, it is likely to give a Happy ending – just like we know it from the Indian Bollywood films, which, since the 1980s, scenes in the Swiss Alps were shot. In recent years, however, according to the Wall Street Journal wrote in 2013, have diminished the attraction of the mountain scenery with the Indians. The success of the film “Who comes first, gets the bride”, the led in the 1990s to a large Switzerland-Boom in India, have long since faded, the cliché of the Alps has been overused. The Indian audience, the films closer to today may prefer to reality, said producer Aashish Singh, at the time, in the Wall Street Journal.

Cliché, instead of political stance

Popular photo motif for tourists in the world: the Neuschwanstein castle

For the Chinese, every cliché in the book, however, seems to be just right. “The combination of nobility, racing and a Bavarian Setting supports the stereotypes of what is Germany,” says Anke Redl, who sits for “German Films”, the foreign representation of German Films in Beijing. The filming locations are not yet determined all of them, but the Chinese film makers put on the attraction of an idyllic Alpine meadows and historic buildings. Director Dan Tang has definitely been a preferred location, the German Klischeeort par excellence: “Neuschwanstein castle is so well known, all the Chinese want to get married here,” she says.

The project was already presented in June on the sidelines of the Munich film festival. Human rights violations in China, and political grievances, all of this is in the Flim, of course, excluded. The approval of the Chinese censorship authority, is already available: In the case of “Love of the Alps” it is for both sides to have a lot of money. Director Dan Tang speaks of a large commercial film: “We want a worldwide Box-office caper”. And, although she has just learned her craft in Berlin with Rosa von Praunheim, known for politically meaningful movies such as “it is Not the homosexual a pervert, but the Situation in which he lives”.

Love of Alps is to allow the cash registers ringing

Director Helmut Hartl (v. l.), the Chinese Director Dan Tang, Director Toni Wommer and presenter Jochen Schropp, is to take a role in “Love of the Alps”

16 million euros are earmarked for “Love of the Alps”, ten times as much of the Film is to commit, and also the free state of Bavaria, several million Euro offer. Add to that revenue from Product Placement, what particularly the German car manufacturer is interested in is likely to be announced, the German producer Helmut Hartl at the Munich film festival. Only 5000 copies will be in Chinese cinemas. The Bavarian film and television Fund (FFF) in order to get into the boat. Managing Director Gabriele pfenning village could imagine a support from the FFF: “that would be The first major project in Asia for Bayern.” Around 90 percent of the filming would take place in the Alps.

In April 2017, the filming is scheduled to start in Chinese and English. Most of the roles are already assigned to well-known Chinese actors, including Superstars such as Zhang Ziyi (“crouching Tiger, hidden Dragon”) and Eddie Peng, and the Japanese Shun Oguri. Is still looking for Prince Edward, the “fastest Prince in the world”. He should be in China by international Blockbuster known. Thought is an American actor, but perhaps also an Advisor to Albert von Thurn und Taxis discovered at the end Yes even his acting Talent.