Oliver Stone Among A List Of Big-Wigs to Produce Shorts

The next Olympic Games is just under 2 years away, and there still seems to remain a slight question mark on the topic of citizen journalism in China and how blogging and people adhering to open source communities reporting from the games will be received.

After a month of having his new film delayed, Oliver Stone is in China for the opening of "World Trade Center". (Beijing imposed the delay in an attempt to promote homegrown films.) It looks like Stone will be doing more than just that for the Chinese. He has been named, along with 2 other international directors, Italian Giuseppe Tornatore and Majid Majidi from Iran, to create a short film promoting the Beijing Olympics in 2008. The Olympic Committee has already brought on board the likes of Steven Spielberg as a consultant for the opening and closing ceremonies, while also summoning the great work of Ang Lee to boot. They seem to want to include the great filmmakers of our time to help cultivate a positive impression of Beijing and China to the world. What better person than one of the most controversial directors known to current day film!

So what will all of this mean for the bloggers of the world in China in 2008? Perhaps nothing. But the more that prominent, international star power is generated in getting involved prior to these Games kicking off, the more comfortable and accepting the Chinese will become in allowing non-Chinese people to take the reins in promoting who they are to the world, and then, perhaps, the more likely the skepticism of reporting from within China will dissipate.