100 good films selected for Chinese film centennial
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-12-30 10:50

A hundred outstanding Chinese films have been selected in memory of the Chinese film centennial, a jury announced in Beijing on Tuesday.

A hundred films and three extra cartoon films were selected from the 220 nominated by a jury consisting of 100 film artists, critics and historians in the Chinese mainland, said Zhang Sitao, jury chairman and president of the China Society of Taiwan and Hong Kong Films Research.

According to the selection statute, feature films, traditional opera films and cartoon films which were shot by studios in the mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan were qualified for nomination.

"The Promise," directed by Chen Kaige, was in the list of selected films, though the selection had finished before the film was publicly released in December.

Chen's "Yellow Earth" was also chosen.

The list also includes three films by Zhang Yimou - "Red Sorghum," "Qiu Ju Goes to Court" and "Hero."

Among the 100, 76 percent were made after the foundation of NewChina in 1949, Zhang said.

Twelve films made in Hong Kong and eight made in Taiwan were included in the list.

The Hong Kong films include "Drunken Master" by Yuen Woo-ping, "Police Story" by Jackie Chan, "A Better Tomorrow" by John Woo, "Rouge" by Stanley Kwan, "Butterfly Murders" by Tsui Hark, "Chungking Express" by Wong Kai-wai and "Infernal Affairs" by Wai Keung Lau and Siu Fai Mak.

The named Taiwan films include "Beautiful Duckling" by Hsing Lee, "A City of Sadness" by Hou Hsiao-Hsien and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Eat Drink Man Woman" by Ang Lee.

The selection, organized by the Chinese Film Critics Society and the China Society of Taiwan and Hong Kong Films Research, went on with three standards - the unity of ideology and art, the status in the film history and the influence among the public.

"The result reflects the general panorama of the centennial Chinese film in a basically accurate and across-the-board way," said the Film Bureau of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, which authorized the selection.