Chan’s among filmmakers new to a mainland group

Jackie Chan and other prominent Hong Kong filmmakers have joined a key mainland Chinese film association, a sign of the growing integration of the two movie industries.

The 54-year-old action star was voted vice chairman of the China Film Assn. in elections over the weekend, the group said in a statement on its official website seen Tuesday.

Actor Andy Lau and directors Peter Chan, Gordon Chan, Derek Yee and Tsui Siu-ming were also among the group’s first batch of 10 members from Hong Kong, the statement said.

The China Film Assn. organizes China’s main movie awards, the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers film awards. It is described on its website as a bridge that the Chinese Communist Party and the government use “to unite the mass community of filmmakers.”

Eyeing the booming mainland market, Hong Kong film companies have gravitated toward co-productions with Chinese companies in recent years, a strategy that allows them to avoid the annual quota imposed on foreign movie imports.