The experience of seeing one's film on a big screen before an audience motivates the filmmakers to persevere. It's a way to tell young artists that the low-budget guerrilla-style film they put all their time and efforts is not all there is.

That's also why the LA Shorts Fest decided to found the LA Shorts Film Academy with Hanhai Studio, to help talented filmmakers get to the next level.

The program will offer a variety of courses, including producing, directing, scriptwriting, documentary, narrative and animation. Master class, short-term training and a US-China exchange program also will be offered to meet China-Hollywood market needs.

For this year's festival, from Sept 3-10, more than 30 films from China were submitted, with more shorts sent by Chinese filmmakers studying or starting a career in the US.

"It's about time China connects its creative production and technology with Hollywood," Wang Hanguang, chairman of Hanhai Zhiye, wrote to China Daily. "Chinese movie producers and directors are enthusiastic about making movies to introduce China's rich history and culture to the West, especially Hollywood, and many are trying to connect and learn directly from producers, directors and cinematographers from Hollywood."

Established on Jan 5, Hanhai Studio, with 80,000 square feet at a central location close to Warner Bros, Disney and Universal in Burbank, aims to create a zero-distance platform between Chinese creative production companies and Hollywood through regular training, incubation and investment.

"There is much more to get excited about in terms of the partnership," Arentz said. "And we are thinking of opening something in China."

The partners also are talking about creating a lab and an incubation system for filmmakers, he said.

hezijiang@chinadailyusa.com