Ground breaking agreement on film co-operation signed between New Zealand and Korean film industries

The first agreement between New Zealand and Korean film producers to work on co-productions represents a major breakthrough for the film industries of both countries, says Peter Rive (pron Riv) chairman of Film Auckland.

Mr Rive who is leading the biggest-ever New Zealand delegation of film makers to Korea, signed a Memorandum of Understanding between Film Auckland and the Korean Film Producers Association.

Signing for the Korean group was Mr Joondong (J.D.) Lee, vice president of the Korean Film Producers Association – whose film Never Forever premieres in Korea this week.

“There is huge opportunity for us here as a result of this agreement to cooperate in exploring and developing productions but to make co-operation really fly, we need the two governments to sign a co-production treaty,” says Mr Rive.

“The Korean industry is very large but it needs to break into the world markets more. That’s why they want to deal with us. Apart from the high level of technical skill in production and post-production that they can tap into in New Zealand, we know how to develop products for the western markets.

They give us access to the Asian market and notably the 48 million strong Korean market.

Also, there is commercial opportunity for us to do a lot of the work on their productions,” he says.

Mr Rive says that co-productions are already happening on a case-by-case basis but a co-production treaty at Government level would provide better access to investment funding.

“We can manage without a treaty – Phillippa Campbell’s film Black Sheep is an example of that – but with a treaty we can do even better,” he says.

“In fact, in Asia cultural understanding must be established before you can do any real business. Film making – exchanging stories about ourselves – is a classic way to help establish that cultural understanding and so film is in many ways paving the way for other trading opportunities. This will be especially true when the Free Trade Agreement is signed between China and New Zealand.”

The New Zealand delegation was a joint exercise between Waitakere City Council and Film Auckland, with Waitakere expecting to attract films to the new sound stage at Henderson Valley Studios.

Due to open in late August, the sound stage is the largest in New Zealand.

One up-coming joint production, Laundry Warrior, is exploring the possibilities of using the studios later this year.

Another prospect is Christmas Cargo.

Laundry Warrior features the Asian mega stars, Don-Gun Jang from Korea and Zhang Ziyi of China. They are regarded respectively as the Brad Pitt and Angela Jolie of Asian cinema.

“The possibilities for us in Asia are just huge,” says Mr Rive.

“The MOU is not just about feature films – it opens the door on television productions and even TV commercials in which New Zealand is highly respected internationally.”

“And this is not just about Auckland. Film Auckland and Waitakere City put this delegation together but whatever we gain here will be shared with the whole New Zealand film industry.

“We took this initiative because somebody had to and the Auckland region is home to about 70% of the New Zealand industry,” he says.

The delegation last week visited China where it met with similar levels of success. In China the party was led by Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey, a long time contributor to New Zealand film who is highly respected in China where he is an honorary citizen of Ningbo City.

The party was told at the most senior levels of the Chinese film industry, that the door to China was open to New Zealand film makers.

In addition, Steven O’Meagher’s film Out of the Blue – the story of the Aramoana massacre - was featured in the Shanghai International Film Festival last week.

Mr O’Meagher is also hoping to have Out of the Blue accepted for the Busan Film Festival in Korea, in October this year.

ENDS

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