On April 17, 2017, the 7th Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF 2017) Sino-Foreign Film Co-production Forum was held at Beijing International Hotel. Li Guoqi, Vice Minister of the Film Bureau of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People's Republic of China and Christopher Dodd, Chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) delivered addresses; Yang Shuo, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Director-General of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (BMBPPRFT); Hu Dong, Deputy Director-General of BMBPPRFT; Bian Jianguo, Associate Counsel of BMBPPRFT and Wang Jue, Editor-in-Chief of Beijing TV Station (BTV) attended the forum.
Ged Doherty (CEO of Raindog Films, UK), Aamir Khan (Indian producer and actor), Ye Ning (Vice President of Huayi Brothers Media Corporation and General Manager of Huayi Brothers Film Co., Ltd.), Emir Kusturica (Serbian director), Rob Cohen (American director and producer) and Chinese director Chen Kaige exchanged views on the market targeting of co-productions and team collaboration in co-production.
Luo Guoqi: 73 Co-productions Accounted for 10% of Chinese Films in 2016
Vice Minister of the Film Bureau of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People's Republic of China
With the growth of BJIFF, the Sino-Foreign Film Co-production Forum has been held successfully six times. The forum is very important for more foreign filmmakers to learn about the Chinese film market, understand Chinese film culture and enhance Sino-foreign film cooperation.
Recent years have seen China's film industry grow rapidly and China become the world's second-largest film market. With more than 43,000 film screens, China has become the country with the most film screens in the world. China's film creation has stayed vital, China's film level has improved steadily, a multitude of outstanding Chinese filmmakers have gone global, and China has become an important player on the international film stage.
During the rapid growth of Chinese films, Sino-foreign co-production has played a positive role. Take 2016 for example, China had 73 co-productions, accounting for 10% of Chinese films produced in the year. The Film Industry Promotion Law of the People's Republic of China came into effect in March 2017. The law provides beneficial legislative support for the development of the film industry, and creates an important opportunity for the prosperity of the film industry. China has a long history and brilliant culture of more than 5,000 years, the vivid practices of 1.3 billion modern people in creating a happy life, as well as numberless subjects and stories which can be made into films. This is a rich ore for films. Chinese films will welcome global filmmakers with open arms and mind to China to create more outstanding films.
Christopher Dodd: Co-productions are the Kingcraft of Sino-US Film Cooperation
Chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America
BJIFF has developed into one of the international film events drawing the greatest attention from global filmmakers. It has vividly shown China's leadership in innovation and creativity. China's total box office earnings have soared amazingly by 663% in the past seven years. It is also amazing that China had 1.4 billion film viewers in 2016 compared to 1.32 billion viewers registered in the US and Canada altogether. The constant increase in the number of viewers is good news for Chinese filmmakers to show their talent and to the film industry. Despite growth slowdown, China achieved total box office earnings of RMB 45.8 billion (US$ 6.6 billion), up 3.7%. Expectations show that China's total box office earnings will hit RMB 50 billion (US$ 7.2 billion) this year and exceed North America's total box office earnings in the coming two years.
MPAA's members include six international film corporations which have boosted the Chinese and US film markets. We achieved success in 2016, introducing three blockbusters--Disney animated film Zootopia, Legendary Pictures' Warcraft and The Avengers to China, earning wide acclaim from Chinese viewers. And The Jungle Book, Star Wars and X-Men were among the top 20 box office. Besides, Sino-US co-production Kung Fu Panda 3 fetched RMB 1 billion. These corporations will present other hits soon this year. In this situation, we are optimistically that US films and outstanding Chinese films will jointly boost China's box office. Such cooperation will benefit the film industry in both countries. Co-productions are the kingcraft of Sino-US film cooperation.
We have seen Sino-US co-productions spring up. There were an average of two Sino-US co-productions each year from 2009 to 2015, and the figure surged to a record ten in 2016. Besides, mainland-HK co-productions achieved inspiring box office performance. For example, Stephen Chow's The Mermaid fetched RMB 3.4 billion (US$ 497 million). This shows that the market effect of Chinese co-productions is far higher than other types of films, and that China's film industry and the US film industry are closely related.
In the meantime, China and USA face similar challenges such as the protection of copyright, which is an important mission to filmmakers and creators. In both countries, the pirated products causes impact to the income of many practitioners and our creative inspiration and willingness of sharing stories. Fortunately, we have taken effective measures to protect copyright and combat piracy. China recently implemented the Film Industry Promotion Law, which laid a legal foundation for preventing piracy and box office fraud. All of these are strong support for cooperation between industries of the two countries.
Ged Doherty: Co-production Relies on the Building of Cultural Consensus
CEO of Raindog
A successful co-production depends on three factors: 1) A good story, which is related to the culture of the country where the film is shot. I’ve seen many examples that some factors were put into films due to financial investment. However, culture is the most important factor as it the bridge between film and local audiences. 2) A good partner. I’ve started to establish partnership with Chinese producers, which usually takes a long time. 3) A clear purpose of shooting. Many filmmakers focus on investment and revenue generation, which is reasonable. But culture is also important. To transfer the script into Chinese, Hindi or any other language, a re-creation of local writers may be required. Therefore, the building of cultural consensus, in my opinion, is of the greatest importance for a successful co-production.
I need to know more about China, including directors, sites and environment. If you really care about arts, I believe all the problems will be solved.
Aamir Khan: I’ve been Thinking About Making a Film with Chinese Theme in the Past Two Years
Indian Producer and Director
Grown up in a family of film, I find that, in my mind, all the films aim to tell stories. In my opinion, with a good character and a good story, the film can go global. While reading a script, I do only think if I am excited for it rather than caring about the Indian or global audience’s views on it. I have no way to learn if the audience will enjoy it. But I do know what I am expecting, and I will follow my heart, which is the maximum power for me in film shooting.
Therefore, I will not make any plan in advance, such as having someone write a script for my next action film. As for me, it takes a long time. For films, I think, directors should be the medium, for they need to decide the power and emotion to be released, and I will follow their thoughts.
This is my second visit to China. I am very delighted to see the Chinese films successfully reflecting the characteristics of China, which gives me a chance to better understand the cultural difference between China and India. If a Chinese viewer sees an India film, I believe he/she may have a new experience as it is a charm of foreign films. In the past two years, I’ve been thinking about making a film with Chinese theme in China and expecting to learn more about the methods of film shooting and narration in China and other countries and regions, which will make us closer and learn from each other.
Ye Ning: Chinese Filmmakers Need Artisan Spirit
Vice President and Board Director of Huayi Brothers Media Corporation and General Manager of Huayi Brothers Film Co., Ltd.
How do we co-produce good films? For any fellow filmmakers present at the BJIFF from the UK, the US, India or other countries and regions, you should be convinced that Chinese audience has the ability to identify what a good film is like. Therefore, instead of being entangled in whether or not to make a Chinese film or tell a Chinese story, you should first focus on creating the very story you want to tell, regardless of with Indian style or American style.
Although Chinese film market is increasingly growing mature, there is a long way for Chinese filmmakers to go to satisfy the needs of the audience. Since Chinese film industry is still at a young stage, we must learn how to tell a story about daily life, for example, from Indian filmmakers represented by Aamir Khan, which might be wonderful or simple but exciting; besides, it is very important especially for younger producers and directors to learn sophisticated genre expression and industrial technique, for instance, from Hollywood as the representative to develop our own style and film language.
There are really no shortcuts for us to produce a good film, which is all about craftsmanship. For every single filmmaker looking to tell a good story, wherever you are in the world, the processes of preparation and creation are the same and take a long and hard time in pain. Chinese filmmakers, especially younger Chinese filmmakers, do need artisan spirit, and Chinese films need an incubation base.
Rob Cohen: We Should Get More Work here, Because This Is a Great Place to Make a Movie
American Director
Co-production is a very big subject and it is a very complex subject. Because about production between China and the United States that I can only speak about from my own experience, what we should figure out is the language--I don’t mean Chinese or English; I mean a movie structure language that many films can plug into them easily. I had a distinct feeling as I was producing Marco Polo with my Chinese film group. Sometimes for Paramount and China Film Group, the same word didn’t mean the same thing as you saw, the two forces would try to get together, but they really speak different languages to the common thing.
I’ll tell a story that I love and happened on The Mummy (2017). We were shooting out in the desert north of Beijing. In the morning, I was walking around the set, and I was up onto the ridge and saw a shot. We weren’t supposed to shoot that day. But we would make a great shot--it was a technical crane shot. And we had to install the crane up onto the ridge. So I asked the western key group: “Can we get the crane rope up onto that ridge by 3 o’clock this afternoon because it’s a magical crane shot.” He looked at me and said: “Are you crazy?” So I went to the Chinese key group, and said that “Can I get the crane rope up onto that ridge today?” He goes, “what time do you want it?” I said: “3 o’clock.” He goes, “No problem, you’ll be shooting at 3 o’clock.” They laced bamboo poles to that crane and every single member of the crew that was not working when we’re shooting at that moment was under one of those poles, and screaming out “1, 2, 3, 4!” They moved step by step, you just saw that the crane went uphill, and I cried, because that was the dedication and that was work ethics. They aren’t like our Americans who often decline with all kinds of excuses. Then, I said to myself, we should get more work here, because this is a great place to make a movie.
Chen Kaige: Making a Co-production film is Like Getting Married with Someone, and Both Sides Should Make Contributions
Chinese Director
I think co-production is very important as a kind of bridge built by people from different cultures. What is the definition of having foreign faces in a movie? So what is the purpose for that? I mean, to me, I really think that making a co-production film is like getting married with someone. The both sides fall in love with each other. Both sides would make the idea, like, we would be together. I think that is the only reason why we need to make the co-production films. If not, forget about that.
And come back to what I'm doing now, I spent six years to build a film set in Central China. I was joking with my production designers who were very very young. "The time that we met them for the first time, they all not even have a girlfriend, but now their kids are four years old." I said you gave everything you could for this movie. That's how the great movie should be made. And I want to say that this movie is called The Legend of Demon Cat, which sounds very commercial, but it's based on a novel written by a Japanese writer, who told me that "I only did three things in my life, writing, fishing, and dreaming about what if I live in the Dynasty of Tang, 1,200 years ago." 13 years ago, he made his first trip to Xi'an. He cried, "I'm finally here in the street of Xi'an City." And 13 years later, I brought him to the film set. He cried again. He said that "My dream was turning to truth soon."
So that's the reason that I want to do this picture. Because that, you know, in our movie, you are gonna see the real emotion, love, passion, and others, from both sides. I think that's very very important for us to remember those.
Released on:April 17， 2017