Two of China's most famous directors, Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige, have taken their films to the current Berlin Film Festival. One film tells a story of romance during China's cultural revolution, while the other retells an ancient story of revenge. Both hope to bring people more in touch with China.
Why retell the well-known ancient story of "The Orphan of Zhao Family"? Chan Kaige, the director of the epic action drama "Sacrifice" says the reason is to remind people that economic success they achieve should not make them forget about their roots.
Chen Kaige, Direcor of Sacrifice, said, "The reason that I wanted to do this film (is), because I strongly feel, like many people with the economic progress that we have made, that eventually we forgot our own culture."
Chen Hong, Producer of Sacrifice, said, "The Chinese film has 19 billion yuan in tickets sales as of the end of last year. That is a number that shows that such a film is well received by the audience."
Also promoting Chinese films in Berlin are the young leads of renowned Director Zhang Yimou's love story "Under the Hawthorn Tree".
Zhou Dongyu, Lead Actress of “Under the Hawthorn Tree”, said, "I'm sure everyone who watches the film will be touched, maybe touched by different moments of the film, but will all be touched."
An audience member in Germany said, "It's good! It seems to be an ordinary love story at the beginning, very sweet love in the middle, but the ending is surprising. I had thought the lovers would stay together, but they didn't. Despite such an ending, the film is touching. "
The 2011 Berlin International Film Festival runs through Sunday.