The Application of “Citizen Kane” is like Treasure Hunt

“I want Citizen Kane!” “I will be crazy if Citizen Kane is shown in Shanghai International Film Festival!”...As tickets of the 18th Shanghai International Film Festival were officially available on June 6, film fans become enthusiastic. In the section of “The 120th Anniversary of the Birth of World Films and the 110th Anniversary of the Birth of Chinese Films”, Citizen Kane which has remained the top in film history since 1962 attracts great attention. The enthusiasm of fans also witnesses the significance of this milestone film. However, it’s rarely known that the undetermined copyright of Citizen Kane in Asia made it hard to introduce it to Shanghai. The tortuous contact with over 10 persons in charge successively is more like treasure hunt of the film.

 

Why should Citizen Kane be shown? For the Organizing Committee, it’s a must in 2015. “We thought we must try it in as early as March as it’s the 100th anniversary of the birth of Orson Welles, the director of Citizen Kane, as well as the 120th anniversary of the birth of world films.” Unexpectedly, the same as the fate of the press magnate in the film, it’s tortuous to introduce it.

Gu Jiamin in charge of the invitation of American and African films said that she first contacted Park Circle, a Britain repair company, and was told affirmatively the digital copy was indeed available, but they just enjoyed the screening copyright in Latin America instead of Shanghai. Film Bank, another repair company her colleague contacted, just enjoyed the copyright of its DVD and blu-ray disc which were not suitable for the Film Festival as well.

Why not contact the copyright owner as repair companies had no permission? After asking around, Gu Jiamin learned that Warner Bros. enjoyed the copyright of Citizen Kane, so she got in touch with its international headquarters via the Chinese branch. “To our surprise, we were told the copyright of Citizen Kane was tricky. It turned out that Warner Bros. was authorized to show Citizen Kane in almost all places around the world except cinemas in Asia and the Film Festival!”

With no other choice available, Gu Jiamin and colleagues decided to get to the bottom by contacting RKO, one of eight film studios in the golden age of Hollywood who invested in Citizen Kane the earliest. It’s not an easy job as it didn’t engage in film-making from the 1950s. “We asked around and finally contacted a person in charge. We learned from mails that RKO was sold repeatedly in the 1970s, so the copyright of classic films was sold to a French company.”

The treasure map covered Britain, America and Europe finally, while Gu Jiamin experienced a time difference of 7 hours from 12 ones. They made contact with the person in charge of the French company told by RKO’s responsible officer, but it seemed that it’s still difficult to solve it. “We urged him via mails and calls repeatedly every day, but we were told he had quit. We didn’t know the copyright in Asia was resold to another French company until we called the person on the job!”

In the face of another obstacle, Gu Jiamin still held she could make it soon. “I felt confident after learning that it was resold to another French company. I was sure I could make it. However, time was limited, so I didn’t know whether I could achieve it in time.” Therefore, she specially invited a friend who could speak French to call the French company repeatedly. Finally, on June 1, less than two weeks before the opening ceremony of Shanghai International Film Festival, a piece of good news came. The company who enjoyed the copyright of Citizen Kane in Asia finally confirmed that they would attend Shanghai International Film Festival.

Interestingly, when the staff were excited, the casual French made Gu Jiamin more worried. “It’s interesting. The French lady in charge went to the office at 4 p.m. local time. After we paid upon the receipt of the invoice and were ready to copy the film, she said we had to put it off until the next day as she would get off work at 6:30 p.m. We agreed. Anyway, we made it finally!”

“Foreign time” for nearly 3 months, hundreds of mails, dozens of overseas calls and different persons in charge of over 10 departments…The legendary journey of applying for the copyright of Citizen Kane is regarded jokingly as a treasure map by many staff of the Organizing Committee. However, Gu Jiamin, the “hunter”, felt the most relieved and couldn’t even explain why they didn’t give up when recalling this journey. “We surely wanted to give up as we were caught in the dilemma. If we couldn’t make it in time, we could try again next year. However, we thought it’s a great pity to miss the 100th anniversary of the birth of Orson Welles.”
Probably, for film fans, they will encounter Citizen Kane by accident in Shanghai International Film Festival. However, for the staff of Shanghai International Film Festival, it’s a gift for film fans as they don’t want to disappoint film fans. Isn’t it the most wonderful story to watch the film of greatest significance in film history in Shanghai in June?