On the afternoon of August 26, the Development and Reform of Film in the Era of 5G of the 10th Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF) was held at the Beijing Yanqi Lake International Convention & Exhibition Center. As one of the main forums to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the BJIFF, this forum is hosted by the Organizing Committee of the Beijing International Film Festival and organized by the Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Future Visual Entertainment, BFA.

　　Dong Ming, second-class counsel at the Beijing Municipal Radio and Television Bureau and Deputy Secretary General of the Organizing Committee of the 10th Beijing International Film Festival, Prof. Hu Zhifeng, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Vice President of Beijing Film Academy and Director of the Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Future Visual Entertainment, BFA, Han Xiaoli, President of the China Film Distribution & Exhibition Association, Zhang Wei, President of the China Research Institute of Film Science & Technology, Yin Hong, Vice Chairman of the China Film Association and professor at Tsinghua University, Dr. Gong Yu, Founder and CEO of iQIYI, Sun Zheyi, President of Sunac Culture Group, famous film director Frant Kwo, and other guests attended the event. The forum was moderated by Prof. Yu Jianhong, Vice President of Beijing Film Academy and Chief Research Fellow at the Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Future Visual Entertainment, BFA.

　　As a pioneer in national new infrastructure, 5G is opening up a new era for the Internet of everything. With ultra high speed, ultra low latency and ultra broad connection, 5G is certain to bring in a new-round data industry revolution and make a disruptive impact on many industries. Facing the new technical environment and future trend, exploring the multidimensional impact of 5G on the film industry and how 5G will change the film industry is of great epochal significance.

　　Consisting of keynote speeches, a roundtable forum and the launch ceremony of the Film Industrial Lab, the forum will bring together leaders of Chinese top film enterprises, industrial elites, as well as senior film experts and scholars, to discuss film development and reforms in the 5G era from the overall impact of 5G on film development, the reforms of traditional film production, distribution and screening empowered by 5G, as well as opportunities and challenges brought by 5G to Internet film & television enterprises.

　　In his speech, Dong Ming, Deputy Secretary General of the Organizing Committee of the 10th Beijing International Film Festival, said that in the 5G era, filmmakers must take a deep dive into the new demand of the film industry at home and abroad for film technology during its development, as well as the application experience of emerging audio-visual technology and new generation of information technology and intelligent science and technology in the film industry, so as to facilitate the high-quality development of Chinese films in the new era, and allow 5G to power China’s transformation from a large film country into a film power. Professor Hu Zhifeng’s speech also regarded the empowerment of Chinese films with 5G as a key step in the upgrading of the film industry in China. He pointed out that “China has initially seen post-transcendence thanks to the development of 5G. With the issuance of the 5G license for commercial use, the commercial rollout of 5G has been underway across the board. More importantly, as an integral part of the development of the cultural industry and the important support for China to step up its cultural development and continuously bolster confidence in the culture, the film industry should capture the opportunities of the times promised by the great development of 5G. By fully giving rein to the leadership role of the film authorities and the leading effect of leading film companies, we must invigorate the industry’s innovation capabilities, fuel coordinated development within the industry, and constantly inject new vitality into the continuous development of the film industry upwards and forwards, so as to accelerate bridging the gap with the film powers in the world.”

　　In the keynote speech session of the forum, Zhang Wei, President of the China Research Institute of Film Science & Technology, delivered a speech first on “5G+Film”, making a technology-based deduction about the trend of changes that 5G itself and its transmission featuring ultra-high speed, very low latency, wide-area link, and high mobility can bring to film production, distribution, release and other traditional industrial processes. According to Mr. Zhang, technological development and support are one of the core factors for China’s transformation from a large film country into a film power. In the sector of commercially available 5G, China has a leading edge all over the world. Therefore, 5G’s contribution to China's film industry is full of possibilities and imagination. The content of the impressive speech is well-founded, deducing the practical concept from technical principles in simple terms. Following that, Dr. Gong Yu, Founder and CEO of iQIYI, gave a keynote speech on “5G – For Rebirth of Films in Adversity” from a market standpoint. He provided a meticulous and creative imagination for the impact of 5G on the entire film industry chain as well as the changes in the relations between film creation and the audience in the 5G era. Gong believed that in the 5G era, long-form videos will be turned into light applications, which will stimulate the market and create a new round of business growth; and that video websites will evolve into virtual pipeline platforms where content and viewers can directly conduct C2C e-commerce transactions. Correspondingly, these platforms will provide paid financial services and technical support for creation. In addition, a new audio-visual form, “video game film” will appear within five years, and the audience can directly get involved into the films to enjoy a super interactive experience. Therefore, in Gong's view, the 5G era will be a brand-new era reflecting the most artistic audio-visual experience in movies, and the perfect combination of art and technology will herald the rebirth of films. Finally, Yin Hong, a professor at Tsinghua University, made a speech on “Film in the 5G Era: Change and Unchanged”. Starting from the essence of the interactions between film art and technology, he made an in-depth discussion and analysis of the film morphology in the 5G era. In the view of Professor Yin Hong, the application of 5G will lead to the self-innovation of films, and the emergence of more visualized, experience-based, screen-oriented and connected movies in the near future. At the same time, he also noticed that demand and satisfaction determine the pace of technological innovation. The application of 5G in the film industry requires solid industrial practices as a foundation, and the presentation of stories through films is an eternal artistic pursuit. Amid changing and unchanging environments, technology and civilization help each other forward, showing dynamic progress of the times. The whole keynote speech session featured high-level perspectives, novel viewpoints, and incisive analysis.

　　At the roundtable session of the forum, Mr. Han Xiaoli, Mr. Zhang Wei, Professor Yin Hong, Dr. Gong Yu, Mr. Sun Zheyi, and director Frant Kwo conducted in-depth discussions and shared their own views on the issues that need to be urgently addressed in the process of film industrialization in China, the scientific research ability to ensure Chinese films to enable post-transcendence amid the new technological background, and the possible changes in the entire Chinese film industry chain in the 5G era. From the perspectives of investment, production, technology, release, and market, the industry elites provided a panorama view of the new challenges and opportunities facing Chinese films under the influence of technological innovation based on their own work practices.

　　As for the reform in distribution and release with 5G, Mr. Han Xiaoli believed that “for meet-and-greets during road shows, live streams with the cast and crew can be added in cinemas, and even the scope of business of the cinema can be expanded by making the best of the theaters that are not in use through the organization of stage installations, concerts, large-scale events, sporting events, and video game competitions.” Mr. Sun Zheyi has also felt new development opportunities in 5G, “In the 5G era, any content can be available to a paid audience member. This will make each of content companies think about exploring how to enhance creativity, create real IPs, and be a good storyteller.”

　　There were both trusted content and examples throughout the discussion. The induction and practice of film industrialization aimed to provide an in-depth summary of the previous decade of rapid advancement of the Chinese film industry, while the outlook for the future of movies in the 5G era was intended to explore the development trajectory of Chinese and global movies in the future. This is a roundtable discussion that was set in the present era and featured multiple dimensions. 

　　At the event, the “Film Industrial Lab”, jointly established by the Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Future Visual Entertainment, BFA and Frant Kwo Studio, was launched. In line with the Hollywood standards and in light of the development status of films in China, the lab is created to sort through a set of production standards with Chinese features for China’s film industry. The five renowned directors Wuershan, Frant Kwo, Chen Sicheng, Rao Xiaozhi, and Lu Yang envisioned the changes in film production as the 5G era arrives, who had together shot a short video titled Inflection Point to celebrate the launch of the “Film Industrial Lab”.

　　Following that, Director Frant Kwo, Mr. Han Xiaoli, Director Zhang Wei, Producer Gong Geer, and MORE VFX founder Xu Jian jointly launched the “Film Industrial Lab” and announced the completion of this industrial research institution. The Film Industrial Lab has made steady progress in the two aspects of “advanced development of film in the future” and “research on film infrastructure”. At the forum site, director Frant Kwo released the lab's research results in “virtual film production”, stating that “film industrialization is a process, a division of labor, and efficiency. Virtual shooting is actually not only a technology, but a re-combination of process. This requires us to change our traditional ideas and constantly explore new production practices.” Weng Yang, a research fellow and Deputy Director of the General Research Department of the Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Future Visual Entertainment, BFA, showed the lab’s research results on the “format standards for Hollywood scripts”, and made an invitation to the industry, “The completion of the Film Industrial Lab is an attempt to integrate academic research and industrial practice, and it is also an effort to promote the industrialization of China’s film industry. We hope to call on more people in the industry to pay attention to our research and even participate in the process of studying the film industry or film standards and norms.”