On March 1st, 2017, the much-anticipated Film Industry Promotion Law came into effect. It set regulations on film shooting and box office concealment. 326 cinemas across the country have recently been punished severely for box office concealment. "How does the Film Industry Promotion Law promote the industry"-New Wave Forum, organized by Sina Entertainment, was held on April 18th during the Beijing International Film Festival. Yin Hong, a professor at the Tsinghua School of Journalism and Communication; Lyu Jianmin, President of Spring Era; Ding Xiaoyun, Vice President of Dadi Digital Cinema Corporation; Zhang Jizhi, Partner of Tiantai Law Firm and other executives discussed "how the Film Industry Promotion Law promotes the industry".

　　Though the law was rolled out after more than ten years of legislation efforts, many articles actually existed a long time ago and now have been elevated to the highest legislative level of the National People's Congress and the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. For example, "At least two thirds of films screened at Cinemas shall be Chinese films". Yin said it was set forth in the Regulations on Film Administration early. To Yin, this is a firewall set for the third-round Sino-U.S. film negotiation. "If we introduce less than 100 foreign films, their threat to the Chinese market will be limited. If 200, the threat will be huge. This is what the law looked far ahead." Referring to the quality of Chinese films criticized by viewers, Yin smiled and said, "Laws cannot restrict trash films but bad ones only, there will be no such films if no one watch them."

　　Following the promulgation of the Film Industry Promotion Law on March 1st, Logan was released on March 3rd under the requirement of specifying viewing prompts on online and offline ticket platforms as the first such case in China. Why isn't the rating system included in laws? Yin said, "The primary reason is that China applies censorship to films, unlike most countries that implement the rating system instead. Since China has no sound legal system for cultural products, it is required to apply censorship to guarantee that cultural products, before entering the market, conform to our political standards, moral standards and other social standards."

　　To Zhang Jizhi, there is another problem in the implementation of the rating system--who will implement it. "Hollywood's union is influential and competent in industry exchanges. Its membership system is also practical in management. Although the Film Industry Promotion Law mentions industry promotion institutions, it is still not sufficient as no social power is given, which causes difficulty in implementation," said him.

　　Referring to the market prospect of art films, Ding Xiaoyun holds that art films should be screened in separate cinemas, and the rise of art film cinemas in recent years is a good phenomenon. After Fang Li's kneel-down for Song of the Phoenix, the society has sympathy for art films. But, to Yin, art films are seeing the most favorable situation in recent years.

Released on:April 20,2017