Radu Mihaileanu (Photo: TwoWings via Wikimedia Commons).
Australia’s AMPCO Studios is among the co-producers of Farewell Shanghai, a scripted series developed by French screenwriter and director Radu Mihaileanu (The Concert, The Source, Live & Become).
An adaptation of the eponymous novel by Angel Wagenstein, the series, announced yesterday at MIPCOM, follows a group of Jewish refugees from Europe who flee to Shanghai just ahead of World War II.
It will be shot in China in English in 2018 by France’s K’ien Productions, Banijay Studios France, Breakout Films and France Televisions, China’s Shanghai Media Group Pictures and Holy Mountain Films, the Adelaide-based AMPCO and Germany’s NDF. An extended Chinese version of the series will also be produced for the local market.
AMPCO’s executive director Mario Andreacchio told IF that he was approached to join Farewell Shanghai by Breakout Films’ Georges Campana, with whom he has worked previously on Young Blades, Paradise Found and Elephant Tales. Campana thought Andreacchio would be a good fit for the project given his experience working with Chinese producers.
He is co-producing with AMPCO’s head of China business, Yiyang Zhang.
“We brought Shanghai Media Group Pictures to the table, and brokered the relationship between China and France,” said Andreacchio.
“It is very difficult doing co-productions with China, particularly the first time. Our function is to act as co-production supervisors; an umbrella for the French and Chinese to be able to work together efficiently.”
Andreacchio’s 2011 feature The Dragon Pearl was the first official Australian-Chinese co-production made after the formal co-production treaty between the two countries entered into force. Following on from that film, AMPCO has spent the last few years establishing a specific and strategic approach to Chinese co-productions.
“We have invested in developing very strong relationships with partners both inside and out of China, and this is the first project to implement our strategy,” he said.
Andreacchio said AMPCO will be announcing a major film co-production later this year.