Film star, Huang, funds fresh film talent

Starring alongside Sylvester Stallone in the upcoming movie Escape Plan 2: Hades and recently appearing on the Cannes Film Festival's glamorous red carpet appears to have whetted the appetite of Chinese A-lister Huang Xiaoming for even greater international recognition.

Four years after his first visit to Cannes, where he attended a promotional event for John Woo's epic movie, The Crossing, the star was in the spotlight again on the French Riviera at this year's festival.

However, this time around he was not strutting on the red carpets as just an actor, but also showing off his talents as the producer of two acclaimed films, Forever Young and Long Day's Journey into Night, as well as in his role as an ambassador of China Film New Power - a program launched by the China Film Bureau to support emerging domestic talent.

"I feel proud of Chinese filmmakers," Huang says in an email interview with China Daily. "When Long Day's Journey into Night concluded its premiere screening, audiences (in Cannes) kept applauding for a long time."

The second directorial feature of Bi Gan, a Guizhou native, who shot to fame for his arthouse movie Kaili Blues, this new film was one of the 18 movies shortlisted from more than 2,000 submissions to contend for Un Certain Regard, one of Cannes' official competition categories that awards films which tell their stories in nontraditional ways.

The film, which stars Tang Wei and Huang Jue, follows a man's return to his hometown in southwestern China to find a woman he had spent an unforgettable summer with 12 years earlier.

It was met with mixed reviews upon its global debut in Cannes on May 15. While some critics lauded Bi for infusing Long Day's Journey into Night with a poetic tune and innovative use of a stunning one-hour-long, single-take camera shot, others claimed to be confused by the plot.

Huang reveals that he decided to finance the movie after hearing rave reviews of Kaili Blues, which won Bi the best new director award at the 2015 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival.

"The newcomers should never be underestimated," says Huang, a veteran of more than 80 films and TV dramas over the past 20 years. "I was surprised to see that (Long Day's Journey into Night) skillfully combines 2D and 3D photography. The director's crafted manipulation of light and shadow stands out.

"I'm privileged to be part of the movie as a producer. I also hope that I can participate in such (arthouse) films as an actor in the future," he adds.

Now turning 40 and ranked among China's top stars, Huang, who is followed by 56 million fans on the microblogging platform, Sina Weibo, says he wishes to use his influence to help emerging young talent.

"Young filmmakers striving in pursuit of their dreams will shape the future of the Chinese movie industry," he says. "All the prestigious directors were once young and hungry, even the likes of Feng Xiaogang."

With a string of blockbusters from The Dream Factory (1997) to Youth (2017), Feng was a pioneer in directing commercial films, but has, in recent years, shifted his focus to more personal works. He ranks among the iconic figures who have reshaped the Chinese movie industry.

Speaking about his other film, Forever Young - which he both produced and starred in - he explains that it consists of four stories set in the 1920s, '30s, '60s and 2000s, respectively, and explores the complexity of humanity against different backdrops. With an all-star cast that includes Zhang Ziyi, Chang Chen, Wang Leehom and Chen Chusheng, the movie was an immediate hit when it was released across China in January.

"When I first read the script, I was attracted by the role of Chen Peng (a college student in the 1960s story). The character - who is a bit silly and stubborn but has a passion for love, his career and his dream - reminds me a lot of myself when I was around 20 years old," Huang notes.

When asked about the risk of investing in arthouse films, most of which have struggled for box-office success, Huang believes a movie is worth financing if it arouses thought, surprises audiences and demonstrates artistic value.

"A movie's value cannot be only judged by profits," he says. "If I can help young directors to realize their dreams, I won't care too much about the gains or the losses."

Speaking about his future projects, Huang reveals that his character in Stallone's upcoming action blockbuster, Escape Plan 2, will be a Chinese martial-arts practitioner. Huang will also appear on our TV screens in the forthcoming 52-episode series The Year You Were Late, about a retired military veteran's ups and downs during China's reform and opening-up.