On the afternoon of June 20th, the 22nd Shanghai International Film Festival held the 赌博appORUM themed "The Research Report on Chinese Film Industry in 2018 & Reinvigoration: Inheritance and Innovation of Mainstream Film".
The forum, jointly sponsored by 赌博appORUM of the Shanghai International Film Festival and the China Film Association, had two parts of report sharing and round-table dialogue. Yin Li, Vice Chairman of the China Film Association & director, Zhao Ningyu, professor of Beijing Film Academy & president of the Academy of Dramatic Art, Li Shaohong, president of the China Film Directors\' Guild & director, young director Wen Muye, young director Su Lun and others were invited to attend the roundtable dialogue, which was presided over by Li Zhenlin (Dean of Film School, Shanghai Theatre Academy) and discussed the market performance, theme inheritance and innovation, future development direction of mainstream films and other topics.
The forum also announced the start of "China Good Story" film project incubation plan. The plan gathered dozens of state-owned film companies, took the exploitation and production of high-quality mainstream films as the premise, guided realist creation and promoted socialist core values.
The Good Prospect of China\'s Film Industry Would Not Change
According to the 2018 industry data collected in the report, Liu Jia, a visiting professor at the Beijing Film Academy, said that although the Chinese market has entered a stage of steady development after decades of rapid development, the Chinese film market is still the pillar of the global film industry, and it leads the development of the global film industry together with the North American market.
The relevant results of the report also showed that in the process of steady development, Chinese films had six new highlights, which constituted the fundamentals of the Chinese film market in 2018 and promoted the Chinese films into a healthy development. These six highlights mainly referred to the following: DYING TO SURVIVE promoted the reality theme and made it the mainstream of the Chinese film market; OPERATION RED SEA got rid of dependence on ticket subsidies with the help of good public reputation, and the word-of-mouth drive was widely recognized by the industry; THE MEG, Sino-US co-produced, achieved global box office expansion, and provided reference for the follow-up international co-production; the theme of imported films began to be diversified; the box office effect of the Golden Week was adjusted as expected, and the importance of film connotation was enhanced; the Internet promotion and distribution played a key role, and the Internet became an important channel for the audience\'s cognition and purchase.
In the second half of the keynote speech, Liu Jia, a visiting professor at the Beijing Film Academy, elaborated the subsequent development advantages of Chinese films in term of the status of film audiences, the integration of film consumption and new media consumption, and the construction of cinema screens in combination with relevant data. She pointed out that compared with North America, China\'s film audience still has large growth space, and with the further improvement of the openness of the Chinese market and the continuous advancement of urbanization, the good prospect of China\'s film industry will not change.
Liu Fan, a researcher at the Chinese National Academy of Arts, analyzed the current changes in the Chinese film production industry chain from the perspective of film production development. He pointed out that in a stage where the market tends to develop stably, the norm has become the first essence, the market fund procurement of industry participants, policy expectations, team staffing, product form, etc. all subject to adjustments, and the production companies will present a characteristic of systematic large-scale production as well as high-quality small and medium-sized production. Production companies specialized in a certain type of films and able to produce quality works will gain new opportunities in this round of adjustment. Film production may have the opportunities of Internetization and internationalization due to Internet platform\'s budget investment on content production and the deep promotion on the number of subsequent co-productions brought by the "Belt and Road".
Innovation Must Be Rooted in Local Culture
From OPERATION RED SEA to WOLF WARRIOR, from DYING TO SURVIVE to A COOL FISH, the mainstream films not only have became the champion of the box office for three consecutive years, but also have ranked among the top ten most popular films of the year. In addition, outstanding works at low costs keep being produced. Therefore, the theoretical critics names this group of films that can successfully realize the balance of thought, art and business as well as the unification of social value and economic value the new mainstream films.
Yin Li, vice chairman of the China Film Association, said that the new mainstream films should conform to the values of the overwhelming majority of the people in the country and the society, have ornamental and certain audience coverage, and should have higher aesthetic, artistic and technical levels than ordinary films. Young director Wen Muye believes that the new mainstream films should fully reflect the society, soul, and entertainment.
Under the premise of consensus on the value reflection and the social responsibility of the new mainstream films, the creation and innovation of the new mainstream films have become the key points. Yin Li pointed out that new mainstream films have broad creation space, that they not only can show the theme of national development, but also can reflect the people\'s yearning for a better life and focus on reflecting personal feelings. In his view, as long as the mainstream values of the society are followed, all themes can be good themes. The important part is the professional attitude of the creator and the way the creator used. Li Shaohong, president of the China Film Directors\' Guild, said that good stories are the premise of all creations, and the rationality of characters is the key. The creation of new mainstream films also needs to focus on the characters and emotions, express them through human nature, and convey the values and reflect the social significance in an artistic way.
In the view of young director and scriptwriter Su Lun, traditional mainstream films can still provide sufficient nutrients for the current new mainstream films. New directors shall consider how to realize the continuation of tradition and inherit and reshape the excellent content therein.
In response to the orientation of emulating Hollywood in the creation of new mainstream films, Zhao Ningyu, a professor of the Beijing Film Academy, pointed out that the connotation of the new era is shaped by the Chinese society itself, and the creation should be based on Chinese culture. He pointed out that in recent years, every successful Chinese film is rooted in Chinese culture. Young director Wen Muye used the "tree" to describe the importance of local culture for Chinese films. In his view, the film of any country is like a big tree. To go global, the tree shall reach its branches outside, instead of rooting outside. Innovation must be rooted in the local land to develop.
As an important part of the Shanghai International Film Festival, the 赌博appORUM of this Film Festival was held from June 16th to 22st, with 10 forums and 5 Film Class activities. The 22nd Shanghai International Film Festival will take the theme of tribute for 70th anniversary and of promoting China to transit from a big film country to a film power, go deep into all aspects of the film industry, focus on topics such as film industrialization, industrial chain, sci-fi films, film education, mainstream film innovation and other topics for wisdom collision. In the meanwhile, it also takes the deep and proper implementation of "Belt and Road" film exchange and the presentation of film art as major directions, and helps Chinese films to march toward a better future.