Ash is Pure White recounts a romance spanning 17 years. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Xu Bin, the co-founder of the Beijing-based film company Hishow Entertainment, says the company decided to finance the film as they've always admired the Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, a two-time Oscar winner for best picture.

The movie is planned to be imported into China.

The increasing Chinese influence in Cannes, the world's top movie event, is being sensed by visitors there.

Among them is actor Matthew Knowles, who has starred in Chinese film Asura, which made it to the cover of Variety magazine.

Speaking about the mood at the Cannes festival-which began on Tuesday and ends on May 19-he says: "The interest in Chinese cinema is growing. There is definitely a strong Chinese presence here. I hear Chinese everywhere I go."

Knowles' film, made for 750 million yuan ($118 million), is about a mythical realm.

Knowles, who is in Cannes to strike deals for future projects, says it's interesting to see ordinary people on the French Riviera getting interested in seeing Chinese films.