Sino-Hollywood sci-fi production tells China-based story

Log Out, directed by Austin Smithard, tells a China-based futuristic story and features a star-studded cast including Adrien Brody (pictured), Shawn Dou and Blake Lively. [Photo provided to China Daily]

China, the world's second-largest movie market, isn't just a source of big money for Hollywood. Growing numbers of moviemakers are being inspired by China's culture and rich history.

The first Sino-Hollywood sci-fi production, the short movie Log Out is an attempt to tell a completely China-based futuristic story.

It is helmed by US director Austin Smithard, who earlier worked with Steven Spielberg on Jurassic Park and Schindler's List, and depicts a time in the near future when people become unprecedentedly reliant on technology and live in a world with little interpersonal communication.

Modern technology is given a rather redemptive role in the film, eventually helping to bring people together.

And as expected, the awakening accomplishes－first and foremost－the bonding of two lovers.

The couple are played by Chinese actor Shawn Dou, who rose to fame after his lead role in Zhang Yimou's nostalgic romance Under the Hawthorn Tree, and Gossip Girl star and new Hollywood fashion icon Blake Lively.

The two young celebrities are cast alongside Oscar-winning actor Adrien Brody in Log Out.

Brody plays the role of a cold-hearted scientist, the creator of the movie's key artificial-intelligence character Mozi. Borrowing its name from one of China's greatest ancient philosophers, the AI, too, shoulders a philosophical function of its own.