Fifth Annual US-China Film Summit Hits Los Angeles in November

Asia Society Southern California’s event explores growing relationship between China and Hollywood for film and television across five panels

"Transformers: Age of Extinction"
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Asia Society Southern California is launching its Fifth Annual U.S.-China Film Summit and gala dinner on Tuesday, Nov. 5 in Los Angeles. The flagship event of the organization’s Entertainment and Media in Asia (EMASIA) series features several panel discussions exploring the growing relationship between Hollywood and China.

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“As Hollywood and China grow closer with ever increasing velocity, a new, game-changing phenomenon — the nexus of traditional entertainment and new media — has fully entered the picture,” said Peter Shiao, chairman of the Summit and CEO of Orb Media Group. “The fusing of technology and content and the movement of entrepreneurial companies, capital and creativity between the U.S and China mark our themes for the 2014 U.S.-China Film Summit.”

A centerpiece of the Summit is a panel exploring the phenomenal success of “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” a collaborative production effort between the two nations, as well as other joint productions. Other panels include discussions on cross-border finance, television productions, and “big-picture strategies” for collaborative films.

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The program also features individual speakers, including Guo Guangchang; chairman of Fosun International; delivering a keynote address, Charles Rivkin; Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs; delivering opening remarks, and Miao Xiaotian; president of the China Film Co-Production Corporation; participating in a luncheon conversation.

“Our broad program scope, roster of top-flight speakers and history of cutting-edge programming distinguish Asia Society Southern California’s EMASIA Film Summit as the premiere event for Hollywood and Chinese film-industry leaders,” said Thomas E. McLain, chairman of Asia Society Southern California.

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The event will be held at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT, followed by a gala dinner. Tickets for the summit can be purchased at Asia Society’s official website. Following is a complete list of the event’s panel discussions. Additional panelists will be announced at a later date.

“Transformers and Beyond: Inside the process of creating U.S.-Chinese tentpole films” will be moderated by Janet Yang, producer of The Joy Luck Club, among other films, and will include Peter Loehr, CEO, Legendary East, a unit of the company that produced Godzilla and Pacific Rim, and Han Wei, producer, most recently, of The Sun and the Moon.

“New Players: Fresh forces in cross-border finance” will be moderated by Hugo Shong, chairman, IDG Greater China, and founder of IDG Capital partners, China’s first technology venture-capital firm. The panel includes Rafael Fogel, partner, Falcon Investment Advisors, Tang Xiao Min of China Culture Industrial Investment Fund and a senior executive from Bison Capital Holdings.

“Serial Dreams: Opportunities and challenges for developing episodic programs for broadcast TV or digital distribution” will be moderated by Stephen Saltzman, partner, Loeb & Loeb, and feature panelist Zhou Yuan, former executive of Shanghai Media Group, Kristian Kender, business development director at China Media Management, and Larry Namer of the Metan Development Group.

“Content Convergence: How BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) are changing the world” will be moderated by Peter Shiao, CEO, Orb Media Group, and feature Liu Chun-ning, president of Alibaba YuleBao, Gong Yu, CEO of Baidu/iQiyi, and a senior executive from Tencent.

“The C-Suite View: Big-picture strategies for U.S.-China film” will be moderated by Bennett Pozil, executive vice president and head of corporate banking at East West Bank. Panelists include Brian Goldsmith, co-COO, Lionsgate Entertainment, and Yu Dong, CEO of Bona Film Group.

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