NANCHANG: In Hengfeng, a small county in East China’s Jiangxi province, residents have a new way of greeting each other: “Have you applied for a film acting role?”
The county is the site of an ongoing movie production, and filmmakers are expecting to hire more than 400 extras to serve as background actors. Many villagers have been eager to apply for the role.
Local villager Ke Xiufa, 67, has already served as an extra three times on the production.
“I can earn 100 yuan ($14) plus three meals a day, excluding overtime pay,” said Ke, adding that more than 40 villagers like him acted on the very first day when the movie started shooting. The county’s film and television program production base is located at a former coal mine site.
The mine, built in 1958, witnessed declining production and financial losses after its peak production period in the 1990s. With a deserted colliery, a 5-kilometer railway line for coal transportation, and its vacant offices and dormitories, the mine was designated as a provincial-level industrial heritage site last year.
Located at the east end of Jiangxi, Hengfeng is near Hengdian, a film and television program production center known as “China’s Hollywood” in neighboring Zhejiang province. “Many tourism and film and TV production companies favored our beautiful environment and well-preserved industrial heritage, which strengthened our determination to build a base for a film and television program production here,” said Pan Li, Party chief of the county. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
