Chinese documentaries hitting new heights in global reach and production values

They are adding global insight, new perspectives and improved production techniques, the Magnolia TV forum was told at the 20th Shanghai TV Festival yesterday.

Zhou Yan, deputy director of CCTV\'s Documentary Channel, said the first season of the seven-episode documentary series A Bite of China is selling well in the global market. The Chinese food culture series will also be aired on TV channels in the United States later this year.

"Each episode of the series sells at around US$74,000, the highest single episode price for a series produced by our channel," Ms. Zhou said.

About 85 percent of the channel\'s original content is currently distributed overseas. Its series have been sold to more than 80 countries and earned the channel more than US$1 million.

"Over the past three years, we have also co-produced 81 documentary series and films in varied genres with international companies," she added. "We will continue to encourage a diversity of thought and style."

Gan Chao, director of Shanghai Media Group\'s Documentary Channel, emphasized there was a responsibility in the genre to document reality and reflect on the past.

"Based on our experience of international co-production, not all the subjects and stories are suitable for this approach," Gan said. "The stories should be told in an international language, and they should show much concern for ordinary people and social problems because our country is undergoing tremendous changes."

Experts also noted that documentaries in the categories of nature, history and science are among the most popular genres in the current international market. They suggested Chinese documentary filmmakers develop a global vision and do more research into new industry trends.

China\'s potential for documentary makers was hailed by Chris McDonald, president of Hot Docs Festival, the largest documentary film festival in North America.

He said China is full of remarkable stories, but filmmakers still need to learn how to convince broadcasters and investors on the critical points of "why this story, why you are the best person to tell the story, and why shoot it now."