China’s film market is recovering, now the country’s cinemas and borders are open, and more films are being released, but producers and investors are playing it safe with a limited range of movies, said speakers at Bridging The Dragon’s annual Cannes Marche panel.
In the first session, ‘Is China Back?’, Chinese director-producer Lu Chuan (City Of Life And Death) said: “We have lots of talented and brave young filmmakers who want to make films – the problem is how do we encourage them to make more different types of films, and not only focus on comedies and family dramas.”
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One of the biggest trends at the China box office since cinemas reopened has been big-budget comedies, usually with top stars – films like the Detective Chinatown franchise and this year’s Godspeed, which grossed $136M (RMB959M) – have helped drive the country’s box office recovery. China’s box office for the year to date passed the $3BN benchmark this week, which is 18% behind this point in the pre-pandemic year of 2019, but 43% ahead of 2022.
“Comedy is popular because it’s relaxing and safe,” said Lu, who is attending Cannes Marche with documentary Beijing 2022, about last year’s Beijing Olympic Winter Games. “But to mature as an industry we need to make a wider range of genres.” Lu, who has sci-fi film Bureau 749 in post-production, said that sci-fi is an interesting genre because “it helps us think about the future of humanity.”
While comedies have always been popular in China, they’ve started to dominate in recent years, along with patriotic, state-sponsored blockbusters. In addition to pandemic-induced cinema closures, the market has been grappling with a new censorship reality since 2018, when China’s film regulatory bodies were moved directly under the propaganda department of the Chinese Communist Party. In recent years, the government has been encouraging producers to make patriotic content.
Jeffrey Chan, CEO of Just Creative Studio, said that despite recent hurdles, he was generally positive about the future of Chinese filmmaking. “As long as you have that big population, there will always be a market and creativity will find a way,” said Chan, who spent several years in Beijing working as COO of Bona Film Group.
“The hard part is to understand what the genuine audience taste is, because when we look at the films being produced, the diversity seems to be disappearing,” Chan continued. “We don’t know when we’re trying something new today if the audience will like it. That has made investors and filmmakers much more conservative, but we need to start looking at what other things the audience might like.”
Liu Hui, co-founder of independent production house Bad Rabbit Pictures (The Cord Of Life), said he hoped Chinese directors and producers would start making an effort to reach out to international markets, now that it’s possible to travel and investment is coming back.
“It would be great to see more young Chinese filmmakers showing up in these international financing sessions and labs,” said Liu. “We also hope that more international filmmakers will come to China so we can make movies together.”
Chan said that some US and European companies are still exploring co-productions with China, although they’re less aggressive than they were five years ago. Some of the difficulties have included restrictions on the flow of money across borders, and of course censorship, which impacts creative elements. However, Chan noted that co-production is also not so easy in some other regions.
“It may be challenging for some countries depending on the status of their relationship with China, but any co-production that is trying to work in both territories, and multiple territories, is becoming harder creatively,” said Chan. “There’s also the option of investing in Chinese films. Some companies are still considering that in the hope of making money in China, and can offer international distribution in return.”
Lu added: “We believe the government would like to open up to everyone. The market is changing, so there will be new realities, but we have a huge population that wants to watch different kinds of films, so there will always be opportunities in my opinion.”
The speakers also discussed the international distribution opportunities for Chinese films, which have become more limited in recent years. After vanishing from the international film festival circuit during the pandemic, Chinese films started to reappear at this year’s Berlin film festival, and three Chinese features and two shorts are screening in Cannes.
The director of one of those films, Geng Zihan, whose A Song Sung Blue is premiering in Directors Fortnight, spoke on a second Bridging The Dragon session about the contribution of women to China’s new wave of filmmakers.
Also speaking were Jane Zheng, one of A Song Sung Blue’s producers, whose credits also include The Farewell starring Awkwafina; UK-based Chinese filmmaker Wang Haolu, who recently wrapped Netflix series Bodies; and producer Liang Ying, who co-produced Only The River Flows, premiering here in Un Certain Regard.
Wang, who is developing an English-language feature about a Chinese woman living in the UK, said: “I want to show representation of Chinese women living in different parts of the world, interacting with local culture, entering society and different industries. There are so many great movies made by male directors, but they are male fantasies, so I’m thinking what are the fantasies that I want to watch?”
Referring to Geng Zihan, Jane Zheng said: “She was born in 1997, so she’s very young, and I see many of these young filmmakers growing up and it’s time for them to shine. They have things to say that they put into their stories and characters, and represent a new generation of Chinese people. I’d love to bring more of these new voices to the world.”
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