The evolution of the Cinema China partnership has been very satisfying.
In 2005, The University of Edinburgh signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Beijing Film Academy, one of the provisions of which was the hosting of cultural events. As recent examples of Chinese film had been so striking and the prospect of working with the Beijing Film Academy so exciting, the University’s Vice-Principal, Professor Geoffrey Boulton, supported the idea of presenting a festival of Chinese films in Scotland. Dr Dorota Ostrowska from the University’s Film Studies was charged with the task and she brought Mark Cousins on board. Together they devised an eight decade screenings and educational context approach, and Professor Vicki Bruce, the Head of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, made the first of several sums of money available.
Next Cousins and Ostrowska contacted Lucy Watkins, the new First Secretary, Scottish Affairs, at the British Embassy in Beijing, who was immediately enthusiastic and who, together with the Scottish Executive, contributed substantially to the Festival’s budget. Scottish Screen’s Morgan Petrie also saw the value of the idea and, soon, Scottish Screen’s National Lottery panel had matched the Executive’s contribution. Government agencies have the reputation of moving slowly but both the Scottish Executive and Scottish Screen made decisive and speedy moves.
Then Cousins and Ostrowska asked the Filmhouse-Edinburgh International Film Festival Partnership if they would bring their vast experience of managing and controlling festivals to the table. They did so, enthusiastically and generously and Cinema China would not be anything as good as it is without the professionalism and dedication of Filmhouse’s James Rice. Filmhouse has contributed as much in kind as any of the other Cinema China partners. At this crucial moment The University of Edinburgh’s new Confucius Institute became the festival’s umbrella, and Professor Natascha Genz pledged the support of the Institute’s expert knowledge of Chinese culture and language. Also at this stage, Cinema China received enthusiastic response from Dr Judith McClure from St George’s School for Girls which led to the development of the elements of Cinema China Education’s extensive learning package based on the film The King of Masks. Months earlier, Ostrowska and Cousins had commissioned composer Kimho Ip to write a new score for the film Goddess. He did so, in part supported by his own Lottery and Scottish Arts Council funding.
By Autumn 2006, Cinema China began to have a look – thanks to its brilliant young designer Martin Baillie, of Edinburgh College of Art. Dean Bowman upped the work he’d already been doing as festival Researcher, Sambooke Scott joined as Head of Press, and the Edinburgh International Film Festival’s Sadie McKinlay and Kate Park gave expert advice on sponsorship and marketing. At a crucial moment, the University of Edinburgh’s Knowledge Transfer’s David Wolfenden and Louisa Gairn, contributed the funding for the series of public lectures and the festival benefited from the advice and wisdom of Young Dawkins and Joanne Finney in its Development Office, and Frank Gribben from the College Office
We needed to accommodate our guests in the best hotel in Edinburgh and we found it in Prestonfield.
We needed to make our opening Gala really special, and Standard Life helped us to so.
It has been exhilarating working between Scotland and China, between educational institutions, government agencies, film bodies and the cream of the private sector. Cinema China has been a real cultural partnership. We thank all of the following for their generosity. They should all step forward and take a huge bow:
Cinema China is: Dorota Ostrowska and Mark Cousins
(Artistic Directors) and James Rice (Programme Coordinator).
A Big Thank You from us to
Catherine Aitken at catherineaitken.com, Manou Bendon, Mike Berry at the Scottish Executive (SE), Les Blank, Prof. Geoffrey Boulton at the University of Edinburgh (UoE), Prof. Vicky Bruce at the UoE, Chris Chau, Maggie Cheung, Heather Elliot at the UoE, Joanne Finnie at the UoE, Nicola Gaddes at AAM, Dr Louisa Gairn at the UoE, Prof. Natascha Gentz at the UoE, Mary Gordon, Kahl Henderson at Savalas Audio Post, Frank Gribben at the UoE, Alex Hibbit at AAM, Tim Highsted, Teresa Huang at China Taipei Film Archive, Kirsty Irvine, Dr. Kimho Ip, Richard Jobson, Dr Roslyn Law, Alison Lawrence at St George’s School (SGS), Jenny Leask at FH, Waltraud Loges at the BFI, Maite Lorés, Tom Luddy, Dr Judith McClure at SGS, Sadie McKinlay at EIFF, Alex McLaren at Screen Academy Scotland (SAS), Robin McPherson at the SAS, Isabel Man, Kate Marshall at the UoE, Maggie (Jing) Mi at the Beijing Film Academy (BFA), Joanne Morrison at the UoE, Prof. Timothy O’Shea at the UoE, Min Jun Peng, Morgan Petrie at Scottish Screen, Deepthi de Silva-Williams at the UoE, Alan Sloan at the UoE, Alexander Sobolla, Celia Stevenson at Scottish Screen, Yanrong Tan at China Film Archive, Cecile (Shu Shuen) Tang, Wang Shasha, Zi Yang, Dr Julian Ward at the UoE, Young Dawkins at the UoE, Lucy Watkins the First Secretary (Scottish Affairs) at the British Embassy Beijing, Rod White at FH, David Wolfenden at the UoE, Lin Yiping, Prof. Xie Fei of the BFA, Prof. Xie Xiaojing at the BFA, Dr Nini Yang at the UoE, Prof. Zhang Hujun at the BFA, Mr Luo Pi at the BFA, Jesse Zigelstein at UCLA Film and TV Archive.
Special thanks to
Cinema China’s Designer Martin Baillie at martinbaillie.com, our Researcher Dean Bowman, our Head of Press Sam Scott, our Edinburgh College of Art documentary film crew Willem van Heemstra, Bryony Day and Danjel Bugeja, Kate Park at the EIFF, our great volunteers, our projectionists and technical teams, to James Thomson at Prestonfield, and to the Screen Academy Scotland.
And to Standard Life for their generous support of Cinema China’s opening night gala.
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