Sino-South Korean joint production Miss Granny. The two countries signed a film-coproduction agreement to promote closer bilateral ties in July.[Photo provided to China Daily]

"South Korean filmmakers keep coming to China to look for new opportunities, but we need to go beyond that," Fan says.

Chinese-Korean film fest to focus on youth

Pop culture saves cinema

A big Korean name who recently came over to China is Jang Tae-yu, director of the popular television series My Love from the Star. He joined the Beijing-based Yue Hua Entertainment in September.

One new project that looks promising is Miss Granny, a fantasy romance produced by Korean conglomerate CJ Entertainment & Media, which is scheduled to be released in 2015. The film, directed by Leste Chen from Taiwan with an all-Chinese cast, will be the Chinese version of the well-received South Korean film with the same English title released earlier this year.

"Although the Chinese script was written simultaneously as the Korean one, the Chinese film was shot five months after the Korean one," Hu Cheng, the producer from CJ, says.

"It's a trial, and we will do more such projects if this succeeds."

But will there be one love story too many? Fan admits that the selection of movie themes for cooperation remains tricky, especially when it comes to controversial historical topics.