In order to fulfill the Vision 2035 goal as part of China’s efforts to promote the high-quality development of its film industry put forward in the 14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Chinese Films, the China High-Quality Film Development Forum—The Ideality and the Ideal of the Audience, hosted by the BJIFF Organizing Committee and organized by the China Research Institute of Film Science & Technology (Test Institute of Film Technical Quality), the China Film Archive (China Film Art Research Center), China Film Group Corporation, and China Film Co., Ltd. was held at the Yanqi Lake in Beijing on August 17. Huangfu Yichuan, president of China Film News and president and editor-in-chief of Contemporary Cinema, moderated the forum.　

From the audience’s viewpoint, the forum consisted of two parts: Keynote Speech and Round-table Discussion. From three aspects of new- and high-tech production and projection, the increase in cinema operation capacity, and the improvement of the creative quality of Chinese films, attendees took a closer look at the path of the high-quality development of Chinese films, summarized experience, identified problems, and offered inputs.　　

　　Ms. Li Xiulei, member of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Editor-in-chief of Beijing Radio & Television Station and Deputy Secretary General of the 12th BJIFF Organizing Committee

In her address, Ms. Li Xiulei gave recognition to the novel and unique theme of the forum. According to her, film is a product of art full of high technology comforting to high industrial specifications. The marriage of technology and art is one of the classic issues explored by film art researchers, and it is also one of the important tasks for this year’s BJIFF. She believes the industry experts, film creators, cinema managers and equipment manufacturers present will promote the high-quality development of Chinese films and guide more audiences to the cinema with their achievements in artistic creation and cinema operations.　　

　　Mr. Liu Da, a senior engineer, and Chief Engineer at the China Research Institute of Film Science & Technology (Test Institute of Film Technical Quality)

With the theme of “The Exploration and Practice of Innovation in Film Science & Technology”, Mr. Liu Da highlighted the core elements of the film in key areas as well as the exploration and practice of strategy improvement and refinement and technological innovation in film in the new era. He believes that film is the pacesetter for the development of the cultural industry and an important pivot for the development of modern audiovisual technology. Driven by new generation of information and communication technology and intelligent science and technology, the film industry is transforming and upgrading from a traditional audiovisual industry to a new- and high-tech industry. Quality upgrading and high-quality development are the core objectives and top priorities of the development of Chinese cinema in the new era, and deepening independent innovation in film science & technology and achieving a high level of self-sufficiency and self-improvement are the mission and responsibility of film science & technology workers in the new era.　

　　Mr. Fu Ruoqing, a senior engineer, and Chairman of China Film Group Corporation and Chairman and General Manager of China Film Co., Ltd.

Considering the promotion of high-tech digital cinema by China Film Group Corporation (CFGC), Mr. Fu Ruoqing pointed out that the improvement of projection quality and viewing experience can provide audiences with a more differentiated and extreme viewing experience, making them more aware of the uniqueness of watching films at the cinema. In addition, he also said that in the future, CFGC will continue to improve the industrial chain of high-tech format films, explore innovative technologies in their filming and production, and develop corresponding pre- and post-production processes; that CFGC will step up continued efforts to make breakthroughs and innovative upgrades in key technologies, develop cutting-edge display technologies, explore new technological and business models, and strengthen the industrial chain of high-tech format films at every step; and that in this respect, CFGC is willing to contribute to the promotion of the high-quality development and the prosperity of the film industry together with colleagues in the industry.　　

Ms. Sun Xianghui said that standing at a new historical starting point, theater and cinema line operators should fully understand the new opportunities and requirements brought by the social and historical coordinates and the transformation of the main social contradictions in the new era at the ideological level, and develop marketing management concepts and systems at the business level. She advised cinemas on development from three aspects. First, they should gain insight into audience needs, identify market segments, and develop theater positioning. Second, they should set strategic product goals, create customer value, and develop long-term audience loyalty. Third, they should be aware of curatorial power, nurture curators, and shape core competitiveness. Sun emphasized that curators and their curatorial capacity are key drivers for differentiated cinema operations and value co-creation between operators and audiences, and are at the core of the competitiveness of cinemas.

From the perspective of an ordinary film viewer, Mr. Zuo Heng thought that the quality of Chinese film viewers and their cultivation in film sometimes shocked him as he saw the pop-ups and comment sections on Bilibili and short video platforms. In his view, these viewers are very ideal for arthouse films in China. He also pointed out that the arthouse film is expanding and extending, and preparing well for observing and thinking about the film audience will be more important.

In the round-table discussion session, elites working on the ground from the film industry shared their experiences and achievements.

Round-table A brought together technical experts, directors of photography, visual effects supervisors, and other professionals to technically explore how to bring comfortable audiovisual effects and viewing experiences to audiences.

Cinematographer Zhao Xiaoding said that technological advances will allow visual viewing and image presentation to be more and more perfect, but more importantly, our film creators should inject their own sincere emotions in the image system in order to move the audience.

　　Mr. Bian Wei, General Manager and Engineer at China Film Huaxia Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.

Mr. Bian Wei introduced the CINITY Cinema System’s exclusive screening of the new footage of Avatar: The Way of Water, the sequel to Avatar, in 4K/3D/high frame rate at CineEurope, which achieved very remarkable results. Director Cameron promised that Avatar 2 will definitely use the high frame rate version of the CINITY Cinema System when it is released. Bian hopes that the screening of Avatar: The Way of Water and The Wandering Earth II will power China to take the lead in a high frame rate based or experimental filming and production environment in the world.　

　　Mr. Ding Yanlai, Founder and Director of Visual Special Effects of Orange VFX

Mr. Ding Yanlai, who participated in the visual effects production of The Wandering Earth series, said that in the pursuit of presenting the audience a more visually impactful picture effect, the film special effects need to get involved in every step of film production—which is a very important matter of principle. No one division participating in film creation can deviate from the law of creation, and all of them have to work together.

　　Ms. Wang Cui, a senior engineer, and Deputy Chief of the Division of High-tech Research, China Research Institute of Film Science & Technology (Test Institute of Film Technical Quality), 

Ms. Wang Cui outlined the work of the China Research Institute of Film Science & Technology in scientific research from two aspects. First, it continues to pursue iterative innovation in image display, immersive audio, and digital watermarking, as well as general technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing. Since these technologies cannot be directly applied to the film industry, the China Research Institute of Film Science & Technology conducts research on customized cutting-edge technologies in response to the needs of the film industry, and deeply integrates them to meet those needs. Second, the combination of cloud computing and post-production technologies is used to build a national film cloud production service platform.

　　Mr. Xiong Junjie, Head of the Interactive Film and Television Center at PICO

After the end of Round-table A, Xiong Junjie, head of the Interactive Film and Television Center at PICO, which is dedicated to VR research and development, talked about the infinite possibilities provided by VR content for the development of the film and television industry from the perspective of VR development.

From the perspective of cinema operations, Round-table B brought together cinema line and studio managers to share their experiences in innovative consumption models and expanding consumption, and explore how to provide audiences with richer, more diverse and high-quality movie services to increase overall revenue.

　　Ms. Liu Liming, Manager of China Film Cinema Investment Co., Ltd. and Manager of China Film Group Digital Cinema Line (Beijing) Co., Ltd.

Ms. Liu Liming combined the specific data of theater operations to show that the high-format screening of China Film Cinema is a strongly appeal to the audience when it comes to watching movies. With its unparalleled immersive viewing experience, the CINITY Cinema technology has brought loyal audiences, gratifying box office and outstanding industry influence to a number of China Film Cinema branches, including Museum of the Communist Party of China Branch in Beijing, Optics Valley Branch in Wuhan, and Sun New World Branch in Guangzhou.

　　Mr. Liu Yang, General Manager of the Operations Center of Poly Pictures Investment Co., Ltd.

Mr. Liu Yang believes that it is important to strive to constantly display fresh content in the permanent environment of the cinema, to put more content and more display methods into concrete manifestation in the cinema, to differentiate and solve the problems in terms of homogeneous content, and to bring some consumer content that can be recognized by the audience.

　　Mr. Shen Tao, General Manager of New Colourful Clouds Cinemas

Mr. Shen Tao’s philosophy of “treating the audience as friends” helped his theaters attract one million movie-goers per year before the Covid-19 pandemic. He believes that the priority of a cinema is to do business, and the best way to do that is to turn your customers into friends.

　　Mr. Cai Shen, General Manager of Shenying International Cinema (Beijing) Co., Ltd.

Mr. Cai Shen said that the theater is a place for the audience to see the truth, goodness, and beauty, and the film that allows the audience to resonate with the creator at the cinema is a good one. The key to serving the audience well lies in our own minds, that is, to show more respect and give the audience a smile so that they can watch movies happily.

From the perspective of artistic creation, Round-table C brought together directors, producers, and curators to explore how to create a high-quality work that attracts audiences and keeps the satisfaction of the general audience with Chinese films remaining high.

　　Mr. Pema Tseden, a director and writer

Mr. Pema Tseden emphasized that the more human a film is, the more international it is. From his own creative experience, he stressed that when writing scripts and making films, it is important to bring in the background in addition to addressing, in the main, the characters and plot.

　　Ms. Nai An, an executive producer and producer

Ms. Nai An analyzed the main demographic of the future movie audience and called on the whole industry to pay more attention to the cultivation of young movie talents, as they are the future of Chinese cinema.

　　Director Yang Lina

Director Yang Lina shared her views on how to shoot films closer to the lives of people, “I am a creator who is very closely bound to life, because to some extent this is also the responsibility of a film worker.”

　　Mr. Sha Dan, Program Planner of the China Film Archive and Curator of the BJIFF—Beijing Film Panorama

Mr. Sha Dan expressed his views from three aspects. First, audiences should be exposed to better films. The reason why many films can become “instant classics” as soon as they are born lies in the director’s extremely great artistic thinking, which needs benign interactions among creators, curators and audiences. Second, theaters should embrace more diversified films and interact with the audience, so that they can understand the meaning of the films presented. Lastly, the theater as a service intermediary should embrace technology.

　　Mr. Huangfu Yichuan, President of China Film News and President and Editor-in-chief of Contemporary Cinema

To wrap up the forum, Mr. Huangfu Yichuan said that in order to ensure a stable high-quality development of Chinese films, it is necessary to have the audience in mind, to truly develop the people-centered concept, and to continuously practice and explore for this purpose, sum up experience, pursue artistic innovation, and revolutionize technology. Only with these efforts can we advance the high-quality development of Chinese films.