Zhang Yimou (left) and Lu Chuan stand on stage during Le Vision's annual summit. Photo: CFP

One of the leading private film production companies in China, Le Vision Pictures, has now added another young celebrated domestic director to its board of directors. Last Thursday during its annual summit in Beijing, Le Vision declared that Lu Chuan has officially joined the company and that in the future Le Vision plans to take part in many of Lu's films, including his highly anticipated Ghost Blows Out the Light which just started filming recently.

Looking back at his dreams, Lu said during the summit that Red Sorghum (1988) by Zhang Yimou changed his life when he was young. "When I was in high-school, I wanted to be a poet or a writer, but after watching that film, I was so excited I couldn't even stand up. It was Red Sorghum that led me to be a film director," said Lu.

Zhang was also at the summit that day. Joining up with Le Vision last year, Zhang's move was described by media as a "lightning wedding." Now a year after their marriage, Zhang's newest movie, Return, is set to premiere in May. Based on the novel Lu Fan Yan Shi (The Prisoner Lu Yanshi) by American Chinese writer Yan Geling, the film is expected to act as a parallel film to Zhang's highly-acclaimed To Live (1994).

This is not the first time Zhang has adapted one of Yan's novels onto the big screen. Last time being the commercial blockbuster The Flowers of War (2011). Once again cooperating with his old partner Gong Li (the leading actress of many of Zhang's earlier and influential films such as Red Sorghum and To Live), Zhang said Return is also a "return" to his old filming mentality.

As the first 4K definition IMAX art film in China (4K definition is a super high-resolution photographic technology with a resolution of 4096×2160 pixels per inch), Return is expected to make watching art films a fresh experience for audiences by bringing the film to IMAX screens, where even the most minute facial expressions or gestures of the actors in the film can be seen.

"In May, Return will set a new box office record for Chinese art films," predicted Zhang Zhao, CEO of Le Vision Pictures.

Besides Zhang and Lu, Le Vision has attracted a long list of reputed directors including John Woo, Guo Jingming and Simon West. Setting its yearly box office estimates at 3 billion yuan ($488 million) this year, the company will put forward a series of blockbusters apart from the highly-expected Return by Zhang, such as Tiny Times 3 by domestic best-selling YA writer Guo Jingming, and Old Boys: The Way of The Dragon by Xiao Yang, who together with Wang Taili make up Kuaizi Xiongdi (chopsticks brothers), the music duo that attained instant fame in 2011 for their eponemous nostalgic song "Old Boys."

Global Times