No doubt that the golden age of the young Chinese filmmaker has arrived.
2017 was a year of rapid development in Chinese movies. China’s box office sales exceeded the 55 billion mark making it the worlds second largest movie market and the number one country in number of movie screens. The rapid increase of the Chinese box office has only created an atmosphere where the film market is continually increasing, which in turn is providing young people with more and more opportunities to create.
2017 was also the year when the “Film Industry Promotion Law” was formally implemented. The result was an industrial chain that was continuously improved and an injection of new life into the industry. Also, this law helped provide better legal protections for the interests of young filmmakers.
According to the “Report on the Survival Status of Young Directors in China in 2017”, the biggest problem facing young filmmakers at this stage is financing, and that 58% of young film directors generally spend more than a year just looking for investment. Even after find investment, it is still difficult to find a stable and creative team for the project. In these most difficult aspects, the BIFF’s venture capital project is available to put these worries to rest.
The Beijing International Film Festival Project Venture Capital Project is an important part of the domestic film market that has gained much attention from the rest of the industry. This platform takes investment, production, marketing, and public relations, and it brings it into one. It also attracts multiple film and television industry companies and institutions along with other related fields of service every year. While here, young filmmakers can find the help they need to meet their urgent needs and effectively link their movie projects with film industry resources. They will also discover a place that will provide full support for outstanding works and talents as well as incubate high- quality movie works that is reputable enough for the
highest box office.
The Beijing International Film Festival venture capital platform firmly believes that young film directors are a powerful engine that helps develop the market. They are not bound by rules and are not manipulated by business. Their broad vision and pursuit of art are the source of constant innovation for various types of films as well as a vital force that will soon become the mainstay of the future film market.
Take a story and walk with a movie
This year marks the eighth Beijing International Film Festival movie market venture capital investment event and this young artist's program has arrived once again. The project's venture capital solicitation was formally launched on December 1, 2017 and was closed on March 4, 2018. A total of 722 projects were submitted, making it the largest number of projects ever submitted In BIFF history. Thanks to its good reputation in supporting excellent Chinese-language films for many years, the Beijing International Film Festival Venture Capital Project has gradually become the most watched movie incubator and support platform in the Chinese language world.
Compared with previous years, the quality of this year's work has improved to another level. These works not only span a variety of genres and styles but are also refreshingly unique in their topics. Some projects include themes such as road trip comedy, horror comedy, literary sci-fi, etc. These works have adapted Intellectual property and are full of suspense. They show the depths of human compassion, and are revel in a sarcastic reality. They either will take you on a journey through time and space, or take you on a crazy adventure. These works allow the judges the judges to truly enjoy and experience the endless depths of these young film makers’ creative brains. These works of art bring together the blood, sweat, tears, and talents of young filmmakers that provide infinite surprises for the Venture Capital Program.
Judging from other film projects promoted this year, the impact of the Beijing International Film Festival Venture Capital Project on the Pan-Chinese language area has become increasingly prominent. In particular, the number of works in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China has improved significantly compared to previous years. This in turn has attracted a positive increase in participation of outstanding Chinese film makers in countries like Malaysia, Singapore, USA, and France, along with other countries.
There is a rich variety of works applying for venture capital this year. These works include projects within the genera of drama, love, suspense/crime , and comedy. The number of the top three types of genres vary considerably from last year.
The number one genre participating in this years program is suspense/crime thrillers with a total of 154 submissions which accounts for about 21% of the total submissions. Thrillers were followed by drama with 144 submissions accounting for 20%. The number of romance projects, which took the top spot last year, saw a significant drop to third in this years program. The venture capital project received a total of 135 such works, accounting for 18.7% of the total number. The comedy category received a total of 111 projects, accounting for about 15%. The number of fantasy and sci-fi projects also saw a steady rise from last year. A total of 77 projects were submitted, accounting for about 11%. Ancient martial arts projects has become a new highlight this year, accounting for about 4%. This change also reflects the new trend in the future of the Chinese film market.
The venture capital project judges uphold the principles of a fair and impartial evaluation. They are sure to select genuine and outstanding pieces and provide young filmmakers with the best opportunities and resources in accordance with the goal of incubating projects and supporting talent. The judges carefully consider each piece on several different criteria such as creativity, genre, and script, etc. They encourage the use of creative and original scripts, in the current movie market, especially the ones with more potential but a lower number. This years judges are also much more strict on the integrity and completion of script writing than in past years. This is in order to strive in discovering movie projects with investment value and market potential. The results of the venture capital project was announced on 8th April. The top 10 outstanding projects are: 《APP Sharenshijian》、《Chunjiangshuinuan》、《Douchong》、 《Duianshifouyanyang》、《Hannanxiari》、《Liegou》、 《Mohuantailuge》、《Nanguo》、《Xuanya》、《Yema》 (names not listed in order).
Incubating quality and producing quality talent
In recent years, China’s film production has grown rapidly, and has seen an emergence of unlimited fresh new film and television content. The venture capital project of the BIFF movie market has also contributed a lot to the Chinese film industry and has helped incubate a wide variety of high-quality films.
In 2017, the movie "Seventy-seven Days" about an outdoor adventures received a lot of attention. The film is based on the adventurer Yang Liusong's description of his real life story. It was adapted from the book “Super Wasteland," and had no actors with any star power, no official intellectual property rights, and no noticeable cast members. However, even with these three big strikes against it, ”Seventy-seven Days” resulted in a box office miracle when it attracted over 100 million viewers during the very competitive movie release month of November. No matter if you consider the film from its plot, visual presentation, or content, the film holds up in all aspects, demonstrating the sustainable vitality of Chinese films.
As early as 2014, director Zhao Hantang took the concept film of “Seventy-seven Days” and participated in the 4th Annual BFFMMVC event. In one fell swoop he won the Venture Capital Project’s “Grand Prize”, and with this achievement laid the foundation for his success.
The 4th Beijing International Film Festival Movie Market Venture Capital "Grand Prize" award winner "Seventy-seven Days"
The film “Till The End of the World" was unveiled during the 5th annual BFFMMVC and was also released during the 2018 Lunar New Year. The film was produced by Guan Jinpeng, directed by Wu Youyin, Zhao Youting, and Yang Ziying. Other than documentaries this was the first movie ever to be filmed in Antarctica. As a rare disaster love themed Chinese movie, “Till The End of the World" had a budget over 100 millionRMB. It incorporates real footage shot in Antartica with CG special effects to create a high quality product for the Chinese movie market.
A participant film in the 5th Beijing International Film Festival Movie Market Venture Capital "Till The End of the World"In addition to incubating projects, the Venture Capital Project has become increasingly prominent in the incubation and output of individual talent. The two directors, Yu Qinghe and Tian Li, who emerged from the VCP of the 6th Beijing International Film Festival are great examples of this.
In 2016, the director Yu Qing brought his project “Fighters of Steel” to participate in the 6th annual BFFMMVC. This piece was selected as that years “Outstanding Venture Capital Project”. For that achievement, Yu Qing said: “This is an important credential that will be a large help to my future projects.” The related venture capital training also provided a large amount of beneficial knowledge to Yu Qing: “This has caused me to understand better the balance between business and art, and will provide great assistance in my pursuit of creation.
After this, Yu Qing directed a number of interesting projects, the most notable of which was the adaptation of Ma BoYong's novel with the same name “The Antique Mystery". This film received almost 200 millionRMB in investment capital , and filming has already finished. It is easy to believe that after the film is launched, it will no bring this new director Yu Qing closer to the lime light.
Yu Qing believes that simply waiting is the least efficient way for young directors to find success and that the BFFMMVC platform provides a great opportunity for newcomers to quickly join the film industry and turn their blueprints into a practical opportunity.
Another director, Tian Li, from the 6th Annual BFFMMVC project has also made several remarkable achievements in the past two years.
After winning the “Grand Prize" in the venture capital category at the 6th Annual BIFFMMVC for his film “The Misplaced Lovers", Tianli shifted his business model to focus to internet film market. His internet mega drama "Tientsin Mystic" became a popular online drama in 2017. Not only were his production standards comparable to modern American dramas, Tientsin Mystic’s Douban score reached as high as 8.3, and its views on iQiyi reached up to 1.96 billion, all representing his incredible achievement.
Tian Li has stated that the VCP gave him an immense amount of help at that stage in his career, the most important of which was giving him a clearer goals, improving his communication skills, and enhancing his promotional abilities.Even though Tianli has already found success in the field of online dramas, he still holds on to his own movie making dreams. He said: Although the company's work is mainly in the production of internet dramas, filming movies is still the ultimate goal.
In recent years, the line between the internet and movie theaters has become increasingly blurred. Many online dramas are striving to achieve “film texture”, and there is more and more movie theaters releasing web based content. Through the film market venture capital training’s guidance of talent, they want to excel at providing service in the film industry, but even more than that they want to provide outstanding talent for the entire industry.
The smooth progression of the 2017 project
How to connect with capital and industry resources is the first question faced by new movie enthusiasts. As a result an increasingly mature market in the Beijing International Film Festival, young filmmakers have gained access to important resources and capital. They also have gained an unlimited amount of valuable experience and training from numerous senior industry professionals. A great example of this is a director that emerged out of the 7th annual BIFFMMVCP named Xu Xiangyun.
During the 7th annual BFFMMVCP , Xu Xiangyun won the "Best Original Screenplay" award for his script “Do Not Kill." At that time, he focused all of his attention on his artistic creation and was not familiar with the venture capital process. “Do Not Kill” had no investors and an uncertain future. Then one day he overheard a friend talking about how the Beijing International Film Festival platform had already successfully helped to incubate several movie projects. He decided to give it a shot and soon after registered. He never imagined that he could win the "Best Original Screenplay" award.
Before the promotional tour, Xu Xiangyun admitted that the training provided by the venture capital platform had helped him a great deal. The film festival's special guest mentors, managing director of the “Forces of Nature” Film He Yunming and senior screenwriter Qin Haiyan, respectively raised two questions to Xu Xiangyun: “There are many crime stories in todays market. What part of “Do Not Kill” makes it speciel? How can the “life flow” as described in the script, appear in the movie more vividly?" These two questions have allowed Xu Xiangyun to re-examine his own work and provide a great deal of inspiration for subsequent creativity and modifications.
The national tour of the venture capital platform helped “Do Not Kill" attract the attention of multiple investors, and eventually made a deal Tencent Penguin Pictures Tianfu Studios. As an independent author/director, Xu Xiangyun said that although he received investment, he never really felt the pressure or restrictions of the box office market. Currently, his greatest wish is to simply show his heart's story without compromise.
Another project to emerge from the BIFFMMVC project is 2017 filmed named “Suburban Birds”. This film was selected as a finalist in the "excellent venture capital project” and has now completed shooting and has already entered the post-production stage.
The “Birds of the Suburbs” producer Qiong Shu said that they chose to participate in the 7th annual BBIFMMVC because of the popularity and appeal of the platform that can help movies find a good partners. The participation of "Suburban Birds”did really provide the movie with lots of benefits. Not only did they find the film's leading actor, Li Wei, but they also reached an agreement with Li Liangwen to provide investment. This easy to find cooperation was only made possible through the festivals platform.
Qiong Shu also mentioned that the director Yang Shupeng, who served as a judge during the review process, made several important suggestions on the budget, process, and shooting of the “Suburban Birds” which gave him a deeper understanding of movie industry. Moreover, he also specifically emphasized that the directer of the film Qiu Sheng is a new director, and the producer needs to be patient in his oversight in order to protect the director's creative process.
The results of Director Yang Shupeng’s recommendations were very effective. Later, Qiu Shu and creative team quickly adjusted their budget. These adjustments helped the team avoid a lot of issues, and the result was a successful completion of the filming stage, and a steady progression in production. This year, they also plan to participate in the Cannes Film Festival and they hope to lend to the credibility of domestic films amongst the international market.
Value your own work insist on self expression
The young filmmakers that have achieved success at the Beijing International Film Festival have all given a similar suggestion to participants in the 2018 event. That they value their work, insist on using their own expression of art and to not take others advice as a something they must do. At the same time, new film makers must be good at listening to suggestions and it is important to pay particular attention the venture capital platforms more experienced senior members.
The 8th BIFFMMVC platform has already successfully incubated many high-quality projects. This experience will help to make the event provide more high quality training that helps point young people in the right direction. There will be stricter regulations and fairer evaluation methods that will allow the young film makers to compete fairly. Most of all there will be better and richer resources to provide a helping hand to young film makers on their film making journey.
The movie market venture capital platform looks forward to all the young artists who come here to show their talents and through this fast and life transforming platform, turn their stories into images, put their ideas into practice, and their blueprints into reality.
To dedicate more and better outstanding films to our dearest movie fans.