Foreign film

From ArticleWorld

Although it is not always the case, generally a film is defined as being a foreign film if it is made in a language other than English. For the American market, this then means that a British made film is not classed as being a foreign film as the language spoken is still English, and vice versa for the English market. Many foreign films rely on film festivals to be shown to audiences and some are shown in small art house cinemas only.

The majority of foreign films are subtitled to allow English speaking audiences to understand them, but many people see this as a deterrent. Over recent years the acceptance of foreign films has grown somewhat with some being given a nationwide release.

Martial arts

Foreign films which have had high audience figures for some years are those which have a martial arts element to them. Often dubbed rather than subtitled, this allows the viewer to watch the action without having to concentrate on reading the dialogue. Actors who always attract audiences to this type of film include Jet Li and Jackie Chan.

Over recent years more and more martial arts inspired films have been released to a foreign audience. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a film which was aware of the audience’s hesitance to see a foreign film and so provided the viewers with a choice to see it with subtitles, or dubbed if that was preferred. This may have helped to contribute to the huge success of the film. Following swiftly on the heels of this success came Hero, which was the first foreign film to reach number one in the US box office in 2004.