Leopards: 21st Century Cats is among the nature films screened at the ongoing Earthland Wildscreen Film Festival.

A recent example of how hard things can get can be seen from the performance of Lu Chuan's Born in China, which has some rare footage of snow leopards. The film was a commercial failure despite being backed by Disney and having a voice-over by top Chinese actress Zhou Xun.

Xi, who shot to fame with his work in the 1990s calling for the protection of the Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys, is seen as a pioneer when it comes to grassroots involvement in environmental protection.

But even such fame does not guarantee success when it comes to nature films.

Xi experienced this in 2012 when he started work on the documentary, Mystery Monkeys of Shangri-La, tracking a family of Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys living in the world's highest forests. Xi was short of money to make the film until a young entrepreneur he met during a visit to Antarctica helped him.

The film then received recognition in the West and even received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Nature Programming in July, but Xi's struggle for financing continues.

"I want to make a Chinese version of the film, but we're short of money ... You are asking about screening it in theaters in China? I don't dare to think about it. We cannot afford that," says Xi.