The Beijing International Film Festival - Beijing Film Market “Project Pitches”: Where the Dream of Film-making Begins

Early one morning in September, 2014, in the famous Russian city of Vladivostok bordering Northern China, the crew of the film The Bodyguard was busy preparing for a new day’s shooting. Falling on a media open day, the morning also witnessed hundreds of crew members and reporters from Chinese media outlets big and small thronging around the filming set. The scene, though a bit chaotic, meant something special for the film’s young director, JIANG Jun-- it left him marveling at how far he had come, for he still found it hard to believe that the script he wrote three years ago, The Old Guard, would finally make it to the big screen, not to mention in such an “extravagant” manner and with such a celebrity-studded cast, which includes both veteran stars, such as Sammo Hung and Andy Lau, and emerging talents such as Eddie Peng.

The turning point for JIANG’s project, it turned out, emerged in 2013, during the “Project Pitches” section of the 3rd Beijing International Film Festival - Beijing Film Market, when JIANG Jun’s script won the “Special Award”, with the right investors and producers for the script also emerging during the event. And JIANG’s success story is by no means a one-off. Over the past two to three years, just like JIANG, a growing number of young directors have been officially initiated into the film industry through the Beijing International Film Festival’s  “Project Pitches” section, which has also grown into one of China’s leading platforms for championing new movie talents. ZHAO Zhiyong, Executive Deputy Secretary General of the Organizing Committee of Beijing International Film Festival, and Associate Inspector of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, pointed out that, in covering the entire film industry, and engaging and connecting each and every link of the film-making process, the Beijing International Film Festival - Beijing Film Market “Project Pitches” has effectively promoted the further development of the film industry. From December 1, 2014 to February 28, 2015, the Beijing International Film Festival - Beijing Film Market “Project Pitches” is open again for a new round of project submissions. http://bfm.bjiff.com/

We Help the Newcomers

The Beijing International Film Festival - Beijing Film Market “Project Pitches” was first held during the 2nd Beijing International Film Festival in 2012. And it has begun to show some impressive results in the recent two years: there were around 50 projects submitted to the inaugural Beijing International Film Festival - Beijing Film Market “Project Pitches” in 2012, with 20 ones making it to the final round; in 2013, the number of submissions more than doubled, to 102, with the finalists numbering 10; and in 2014, the number of submitted projects doubled again, to 226, with 12 ones finally making the shortlist.

In addition to heightening the enthusiasm among potential participants, the role of the Beijing International Film Festival - Beijing Film Market “Project Pitches” as an industrial platform in championing new creative talents is also becoming increasingly manifest: among the 10 shortlisted projects from 2013, The Bodyguard and Dot 2 Dot have already finished shooting, with an additional six ones actively preparing to enter the shooting phase. And among the 12 shortlisted projects from 2014, Mountain Cry and Detective Lady have just wrapped up shooting, with 77 Days, an outdoor adventure film and the 2014 Special Award winner, also having completed its shooting in the wilderness of no man’s land in Tibet. In addition, such three projects as The Legend of Speed, Hide and Seek and My Heart will Go On are also slated to begin filming in 2015.

Taken together, the 22 projects selected by the Beijing International Film Festival - Beijing Film Market “Project Pitches” in the recent two years are expected to achieve a completion rate of 64%, a whopping figure compared to that of other similar events held in the film-making community both at home and abroad. And the fact that the section has been focused on championing new up-and-coming Chinese directors since its inception only makes this achievement even more commendable.

Among the many beneficiaries of the Beijing International Film Festival - Beijing Film Market “Project Pitches” is YANG Zi, a young “post-80s” director from mainland China, who submitted his project of Mountain Cry to the section last year. “The project was initiated 4 years ago, after I read the short story of the same name and found myself so tremendously touched that I immediately set to work adapting it into an screenplay”, he said. Since his graduation in 2007, YANG Zi has been maintaining a one-feature-per-year rate of output, but to his regret, Mountain Cry, a subject matter he has always been “eager to tackle”, got delayed again and again, until early 2014, when Hairun Pictures, a film company he had been working with for a long time, suggested he submit his projects to the Beijing International Film Festival - Beijing Film Market “Project Pitches”. “I was originally just going to submit another commercial project, but after I noticed that I could submit multiple projects at the same time, I also casually sent along a copy of the Mountain Cry script I had been revising on and off”, said YANG.

And much to YANG’s surprise, his “casually submitted” project of Mountain Cry successfully made it to the shortlist. “I really wasn’t expecting anything, I only meant it to be a shot in the dark. And due to limited material at hand, I only made a simple PPT presentation featuring a couple of pictures”, he admitted. However, the surpassing quality of his script and story still made the project stand out from the competition, winning the award during the event last year.

And similar “stories” abound. According to the young director JIANG Jun, The Old Guard is actually the very first screenplay he wrote. “(Back then) I was mainly involved in shooting TV commercials, but  in the back of my mind I’d always wished to shoot a movie, only I didn’t know how to break into the film industry”. And despite having a screenplay that had long been finished, The Old Guard was put off repeatedly. “As there are a lot of international and gangster/crime elements in the story, I don’t know how to handle it properly, so I just wanted to find some experienced partner to work with through the Beijing International Film Festival”. And as it turned out, the Beijing International Film Festival - Beijing Film Market “Project Pitches” didn’t let him down. The Old Guard soon got the attention of the famous producer Bill Kong and his Edko Films Ltd., which finally decided to finance and produce the film.

In addition to being a platform to seek finance, the Beijing International Film Festival - Beijing Film Market “Project Pitches” also represents an important opportunity for new creative talents to get a foretaste of how the real film industry works. YANG Zi, for one, mentioned that personally the experience was a particularly enriching one. “Although I have never stopped making films over the past few years, I had very limited experience interacting with the professional film industry. I was just happy to do whatever work was thrown my way, and I had always thought film festivals were a distant thing to me.” Participating in the Beijing International Film Festival - Beijing Film Market “Project Pitches”, however, allowed him to involve himself intimately in the real film industry. “The first time is always exciting, of course, but I also found the whole experience highly enlightening, be it public presentation or private negotiation with potential investor.”

Moreover, the Beijing International Film Festival - Beijing Film Market “Project Pitches” also actively collaborated with relevant parties to explore auxiliary programs to champion new talents. In 2014, the section started working with the Marché du Film - Festival de Cannes to introduce two additional awards to its annual activities. The winning projects will be admitted into The Chinese New Film Talents Forum held at the Marché du Film, and after undergoing training session, got pitched at one of the world’s most prestigious film festivals, while also having the opportunity to attend the producers’ workshop and receive dedicated project coverage by relevant media. Last year, it was through this very collaborative program that Mountain Cry and 77 Days ended up in Cannes. “That was my first visit to Cannes, the mecca of world cinema”, said YANG Zi. “It was truly an eye-opening experience.”

  This year, besides the aforementioned two additional awards”, the Beijing International Film Festival - Beijing Film Market is also set to conduct in-depth collaborations with the Motion Picture Association (MPA) on the “Film Project Market”. A new “MPA Grand Prize” created to award the winner of the MPA Film Workshop. The recipient will join winners from similar competitions at other MPA film workshops for a study tour to Hollywood studios to learn about professional filmmaking. They will also get a rare opportunity to pitch their projects to studios for international film co-production. MPA and Beijing International Film Festival - Beijing Film Market will also join hands to present a variety of activities including the  Opening/ Panel discussion for the “MPA Film Workshop”, Coaching Sessions and Project Pitching, aim to accelerate the development of promising projects from the “Film Project Market”.

The successes it achieved over the previous two years have also brought quite some “repeat business”. For instance, after winning an award in 2013, JIANG Jun was back in 2014 bringing his new screenplay, Cliff. Such other up-and-coming directors as YANG Zi and ZHAO Hantang (a.k.a ZHAO Yi) now also eye this platform as their first destination to unveil their future projects. And it’s not just the new directors who are bringing “repeat business”. CHEN Jie, co-founder of Easy Entertainment, paid her first visit to the Beijing International Film Festival - Beijing Film Market “Project Pitches” in 2013, when she was responsible for exploiting domestic films at Edko Films Ltd,. as a producer. “Young screenwriters nowadays could balance self expression and self pursuit in a more rational way; The Old Guard was stunning among them”.She recommended it to Bill Kong, sending the project on its path to fruition. In 2014, CHEN Jie joined the section, along with two seasoned producers from Hong Kong, Teddy Chen and Ivy Ho, to serve on its first round judges and trainers.

We Seek the Unique

Compared to similar events, the Beijing International Film Festival - Beijing Film Market “Project Pitches” is particularly known for its diversity in genres. Take the 22 shortlisted projects from the previous two years for instance. Between them, they cover a wide range of genres, including gangster/crime, suspense, horror, action, sci-fi, romance, comedy, and art, with the eight winners also distinctly diverse in their subject matter and genre.

However, it’s worth noting that, instead of being a way it happens to be, the section’s diversity in genres is the way it is meant to be. CHEN Caiyun, director of the Beijing Film Market Department of Beijing International Film Festival, remarked that, the platform of the “Project Pitches” is open to all new talents and creative projects, “but our primary aim has always been to discover more and more genre movies with unique qualities.”

The obsession with “unique qualities” is also what characterizes the Beijing International Film Festival - Beijing Film Market “Project Pitches”. For instance, in the movie community, The Old Guard, the 2013 “Special Award” winner, is jokingly referred to as an artistic version of The Man from Nowhere. 77 Days, another award-winning project from the previous year, is also very unique. The film’s director, ZHAO Hantang (a.k.a ZHAO  Yi), was originally an actor. “I love outdoor adventures, so I’ve always wanted to shoot an outdoor adventure movie”, he said. After reading the popular travelogue Chang Tang, Super Wasteland in 2012, he knew he had found the right subject matter. “But everyone in the industry who has read my adapted screenplay said it was too one-of-a-kind,” he conceded. Later, he submitted the project to the Beijing International Film Festival - Beijing Film Market “Project Pitches” and surprisingly, it was chosen. During the public presentation phase, the uniqueness of 77 Days in its genre and subject matter became its very differentiating factor. And after winning the big award from the segment, the project attracted still more attention from inside the film industry and business resources. For instance, Mark Lee Ping-Bin, a famous cinematographer and a long-term partner of director Hou Hsiao-hsien, finally decided to join the project.

CHEN Caiyun pointed out that, despite a tough film market, versus the completion rate of projects, “We attach more importance to their subject matter and creative value. Although there are more and more projects participating in the section, some of which are very well-prepared, our panel of judges put a higher premium on the value of inherent stories. During the “Project Pitches” last year, Mountain Cry caught the eye of Ellen Eliasoph, President of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group Asia, who soon concluded a partnership with Hairun Pictures to co-produce the film, fulfilling YANG Zi’s long-cherished dream.  ‘The project was officially announced a little more than one month after it won the award, location scouting soon followed, with its principal photography kicked off in October’, YANG Zi said. And according to him, the film is now in post-production, and ‘its first rough cut will be completed before the Spring Festival’.”

For the new creative talents in mainland China, the support offered by the Beijing International Film Festival - Beijing Film Market  “Project Pitches” to creative diversity is of particular importance. Peggy Chiao, a famous film producer who once served on the section’s judging panel, said, new-talent-championing platforms like the Beijing International Film Festival - Beijing Film Market “Project Pitches” and the huge public attention it helps draw from both the industry and social media will “give a significant boost to new projects and the morale of new talents”. 

Given that China’s film marketization is in full swing, every new talent wishing to break into the film industry is now faced with a dilemma: to maintain creative independence, or to follow the market trends. In this connection, the Beijing International Film Festival - Beijing Film Market “Project Pitches” is well-positioned to offer the newcomers more and more helpful guidance. Although the post-80s young director YANG Zi have previously directed four theatrically released movies, “I considered myself more like an employee, and was rather insensitive to box-office pressure”. However, after Mountain Cry, “my mindset as a director has undergone a significant shift- it’s a movie I personally wanted to make, no doubt about that, and that means over its creative side I must have firm control. But at the same time, it also means I now have a bigger responsibility to shoulder and more pressure to endure.” According to YANG Zi, after shooting Mountain Cry, he as a director “has matured a lot”.

On the other hand, while well-established types of commercial cinema are indispensable to the maturation of the film industry, independently pioneered cinematic endeavors are also key, even those wildly unique ones.  The fact that American cinema can maintain its global dominance for many years is at least partially attributable to its independent film-making system outside Hollywood studios. In this sense, the “obsession” of Beijing International Film Festival - Beijing Film Market “Project Pitches” with uniqueness is also of long-term strategic significance. “When we were young, we could only dream of such a platform and the great opportunities it offers,” said TENG Huatao, a renowned director from mainland China who served on the judging panel last year. “The establishment and development of the Beijing International Film Festival - Beijing Film Market ‘Project Pitches’ will not just benefit the young directors, but will also greatly promote the diversity in genres of Chinese cinema.”

As the section steadily progresses, it has also attracted increasing attention from the film community itself. From HUANG Jianxin, JIA Zhangke and LI Shaohong in 2012,

GAO Qunshu, HE Ping and GAO Xiulan in 2013, to Ellen Eliasoph, TENG Huatao and Peggy Chiao in 2014, more and more seasoned filmmakers are joining hands with the Beijing International Film Festival - Beijing Film Market  “Project Pitches”.

More capitals for movies have turned their attention to “Project Pitches”. Major partners for our activities in 2014 included a veteran foundation in Chinese mainland, The One Film Fund, which invested The Grandmaster, Beginning of the Great Revival, Personal Tailor and a number of other well-known movies. It’s worth noting that Beijing International Film Festival - Beijing Film Market  “Project Pitches” is of undeniable strategic value for all types of investments that are currently gathering in the Chinese movie industry. Along with further growth of the movie market in the future, as well as increased requirements for movie projects and quality, advantages of “Project Pitches”. as a platform that gathers and incubates creative power will become more prominent, with huge potential to bring value growth to the capital market.

According to CHEN Caiyun, along with the projects, talents, productions and investors are gathered, and the related structure is well-funded, the Beijing International Film Festival - Beijing Film Market “Film Project Market” has entered a period of rapid development, thanks in large part to the fact that as an incubating platform for championing new talents, “it really worked”. And with the segment’s talent pool and necessary mechanisms gradually shaping up, a new virtuous cycle will be set in motion, ushering in an even brighter future for the “Film Project Market”.