Chinese and Europeans need to boost co-productions, concluded filmmakers at a forum of the first Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF), which ended on Thursday.

Of the 130 official co-productions of the last decade, only 29 have been made with Europe, according to Zhang Xun, president of the China Film Co-Production Corporation.

The nation imports 20 foreign films for theatrical release every year, but a co-produced film is free of such quotas.

"Co-productions provide technical and cultural benefits and expand the market potential for the films concerned," says Tong Gang, director of the State Film Bureau.

Wang Zhongjun, chairman of the entertainment group Huayi Brothers, says glowing box-office revenues mean funding is no longer a problem for co-productions.

"If you have a good project, money is the least important factor," he says.

According to Li Chunliang, organizer of BJIFF, the festival saw about 2.8 billion yuan ($427 million) in contracts inked during the festival.

Hong Kong director/producer Ng See-yuen says China has become a more appealing partner, through progress in talent cultivation and technological improvements in filmmaking.

"I want to tell our European friends that you no longer need to bring all the equipment here, we have it now, most of which is very good," he says. "You only need to bring a good script, a good idea and a willing heart to cooperate with us."

Bill Kong, co-producer of Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, points out that Chinese films' profits rely heavily on the box office and the life of a film is typically six months. In many European countries, TV stations buy local films at a much higher price than foreign ones and broadcast them for a longer time. If co-produced films enjoyed the same treatment, they would last much longer, he says.

"If Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was a China-Europe co-production, its overseas sales would have been 50 percent more," he says.

Meanwhile, France has taken a step in this direction.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, under a new agreement the French National Cinema Center (CNC), which promotes co-productions between China and France, will set aside 700 million euros ($993 million) to subsidize co-productions for television and theater. Quoting the center's Julien Ezanno, it says films co-produced under this agreement will have access to French investment.

Hailing the initiative, British producer Phil Agland has called for a similar agreement between China and Britain. Having shot two documentaries in China - Beyond the Clouds and Shanghai Vice - he points out that doing business in the country is easier than many imagine.

His company is now planning White Wolf, a thriller about a bandit in 1930s China. It will be made in partnership with the Tianjin North Film Studio.

Meanwhile, Zhang Xun of China Film Co-Production Corporation says the script should be such that both Chinese and European audiences can relate to it.

"We have received some scripts that you can tell are literal translations of the English ones, with only characters' names changed into Chinese," she says. "It feels weird to watch people with a Chinese face speaking and thinking like a foreigner.

"Such stories, without vivid characters, can hardly win over an audience."