Chinese TV producer Shen Jian (right) is a frequent guest at influential film events, such as the Academy Awards ceremony. [Photo provided to China Daily]
Ang Lee turned down a number of interview requests from world media when his Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon became the first Chinese title to win the Oscar for best foreign movie in 2000. But at the time, Shen Jian, a lesser-known TV producer, couldn't just take "no" for an answer, so he sent his staff members to the director's alma mater, New York University.
There they recorded video greetings from Lee's former teachers and sent him the tapes.
The strategy worked-Lee granted Shen an interview. And, with it, the World Film Report, his weekly program on CCTV-6, began to flourish.
Shen, who until 2000 had no TV production experience, put in all his money to launch the program that year, but he needed to have some "significant" to get CCTV-6, a leading movie channel in China, to buy it.
"I told my people that you had no choice but to convince Lee. It was just like a battle for honor. We needed to win," recalls Shen, 50, who still is the chief producer of World Film Report.
Now 15 years later, the show that specializes in foreign hits, has interviewed more than 3,000 moviemakers from nearly 80 countries and reaches an audience of up to 1 billion across China, the world's second-largest movie market.
Shen's contribution in promoting cinema and cultural exchanges won him Insignia of the French Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters on Wednesday. The honor, presented by the French government, is the highest recognition in the field of culture. In the past, most of the Chinese who won it were celebrities, such as actor Ge You and actress Zhou Xun.
Maurice Gourdault-Montagne, the French ambassador to China, lauded Shen and his team for having established a platform to connect Chinese audiences to world moviemakers.
"I was surprised to hear the good news, as I'm not a star. It's a great pride to be recognized for my efforts in promoting cultural exchanges and diversity," Shen says.
Shen, whose love for cinema goes back to his childhood, says theaters acted as "shelter to flee from the real world's cruelties" his family faced during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76). He was born in East China's Nanjing city.
He still remembers the olden-day theaters and their small sales windows.
"Sometimes the crowds behind would push and my hand would hurt," he says of the time he stood in lines to buy tickets at such counters. "But I was still excited."
That may explain why Shen, who worked as a government policy consultant before 2000, decided to launch a TV show on movies. His analysis on China's digital reforms, based on a four-month study in the Silicon Valley, was adopted by the 10th Five Year Plan (2001-2005), the country's economic and social development goals.
Shen says his stay in the United States gave him opportunities to make friends with some influential Hollywood moviemakers like veteran producer Mike Medavoy. He returned to China and established Shinework Media that started to produce World Film Report, which features face-to-face interviews with foreign moviemakers in their respective countries.
Shen Jian (right) has made friends with many Hollywood film-makers, such as James Cameron. [Photo provided to China Daily]
Shen also works as a consultant to several international companies, including Microsoft, Royal Philips, and US investment fund Silver Lake.
"When the international firms encounter problems or are confused, they look for help. My work in some sense is like writing a screenplay to guide them step by step," Shen says. "What I earn from consultancy is spent in movie production."
His connection with the rest of the world has given Shen's company rich resources to produce movies. So far, Shinework has signed production contracts with India, Iran, Kazakhstan and Indonesia. And, agreements with Egypt, Greece, Cuba and Pakistan are in the pipeline, he says.
His aim is more to enhance cultural exchanges among countries that are part of China's One Belt, One Road initiative that seeks to revive connections that existed along the ancient Silk Road.
One example can be seen in the coproduction with Kazakhstan, which is inspired from the last years of famous Chinese musician Xian Xinghai, who died in Kazakhstan at the age of 40.
Shen has realized his adolescent dream of exploring the world of cinema, but he also knows the responsibilities of helming a popular TV program like World Film Report.
"Cinema is a medium beyond language and ethnicity to record and pass down different cultures," he says.
In 2006, Shen participated as an unofficial member in discussions for the Alliance of Civilizations Final Report, initiated by Kofi Annan, then-UN secretary-general.
The report aims to "explore the roots of polarization between societies and cultures today, and to recommend a practical program of action to address this issue", according to the UNAOC website.
