Sparks of Wisdom Crashed out Among Sino-Foreign Filmmakers

　　On April 17, the Sino-Foreign Film Co-production Forum of the 6th Beijing International Film Festival was held. Huang Jianxin, the famous producer and director presided over the Forum, at which Hollywood actress Natalie Portman, Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore, director of Monster Hunt Raman Hui, President of Bona Film Group Yu Dong, as well as US producer James Schamus and British producer Iain Smith discussed on self-creation and Sino-foreign co-productions.

    With respect to co-productions, Yu Dong believed that it is of the most importance to be clear of the target market, and said, “Chinese co-productions should target the Chinese market, while English co-productions the global market”. The Italian master Giuseppe Tornatore considered co-production as a dynamic form, and said, “I have cooperated with France and the US and never found it’s difficult in my direction, this means I can direct in any language”. The actress Natalie Portman pointed out that, “I may not be very experienced, but I think the most important thing in the field of film is to be original and include vision of the director into the film”. Raman Hui agreed with her and said, “Most importantly, Chinese filmmakers should produce great Chinese films first”. James Schamus also believed that Co-productions should not cater to the world, “It is very important for Chinese filmmakers to keep their own way of expression, and the world film should know the film language which Chinese audience are familiar with”, he said.

    At the end of the Forum, Giuseppe Tornatore signed an agreement with Alibaba Pictures, according to which the two parties will jointly develop and produce a co-production targeting the global market.

    Chinese Filmmakers should promote Sino-Foreign Film Co-production in an innovative spirit

    Zhang Hongsen (Director General, Film Bureau of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People’s Republic of China)

    There is a consensus that film co-production not only has unique advantages in cultural blend, but also has irreplaceable advantages in such aspects as sharing film industry, film market, and film talent resource. With the rapid progress of Chinese film market as well as the constant growth of Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF), the Sino-Foreign Film Co-production Forum has been held successfully for five times, at which filmmakers from different countries and regions have been invited to have in-depth exchange and discussion on various aspects of international film cooperation, such as the originality, financing, law affairs, production and marketing. Particularly, filmmakers expressed their sincere feelings about cultural signs and understanding of film ontology and nature, and made valuable analysis of the status quo and prospect of Sino-foreign film co-production, which received extensive attention and positive comments from the film industry.

    The Sino-Foreign Film Co-production Forum is a very important and valued forum of BJIFF. Presently, as Chinese film industry maintains a rapid trend of development, we should comprehend more deeply the spirit of President Xi’s important speeches, and promote win-win cooperation between Chinese film and world film in an innovative spirit. We welcome with our warm arms and open minds filmmakers worldwide to join hands with Chinese filmmakers to shoot more and better films. We also hope that more sparks of wisdom may crash out at this Sino-Foreign Film Co-production Forum.

    Co-productions will be International products dominated by Chinese investors 

    Yu Dong (Chairman of Bona Film Group)

    With more and more Sino-foreign film projects appearing, we find that great changes have taken place in Chinese and American film industries and film production, i.e. the rapid development of Chinese film & TV industry as well as the downturn of Hollywood Film Market. Major companies in Hollywood nowadays have no “boss” but professional managers who choose to shoot more and more series and dare not further explore various themes or stories concerning American culture. “The box-office of the movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice received no more than 700 million in China, which can be easily achieved by some domestic films made at a low budget for youngster audience,”I think.

    Chinese film market will remain strong growth momentum for at least a decade, with 6,000 to 8,000 new movie screens appearing per year in the next five to eight years. There are at present 35,000 movie screens in China and 39,000 in America. According to this momentum, China will boast more movie screens than America by the end of this year. And Chinese total amount of movie screens will double that of America 5 years later, when at least 60,000 screens will be available to audience in Chinese cities, especially in fourth tier or fifth cities (i.e. small cities and counties in China). By then, Chinese film market may achieve their box-office of 150 billion to 200 billion yuan, tripling that of America, which hosts 10 billion dollars today.

    This will definitely bring a structural change to Chinese Film Market—Chinese inland market will depend more and more on local culture and native creation. Those young Hollywood directors (including young Asian directors) with no support from major companies or professional managers will turn to Chinese film market. As Chinese market has excess capital, when domestic production cannot meet the demand of its capital, the overflow of capital will occur. That’s why in recent years China has bought movie lists of six major film companies in Hollywood. Later, capital will also infiltrate into independent film-making field – that co-productions in the future will be international products dominated by Chinese investors.

    Therefore, we should make it clear who the target audience will be for co-productions. If most target audience are Chinese, films should then use Chinese expressions; if main target audience are from countries throughout the world, films should be produced under the criteria of the six major movie companies. Thus films with a Chinese actor or actress cannot simply be regarded as co-productions.

    Chinese filmmakers should keep their own mode of Expression 

    James Schamus (American producer, producer & scriptwriter of the film The Ice Storm, and scriptwriter of the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)

    Every time I come to Beijing, there are always some people asking me whether Hollywood has some secrets (of success) or not. Actually, no. Just because we enter the film market earlier than they do, which will change in the future as well. The “Hollywood” we speak of is actually not merely a specific place, but a concept that capital & talents all over the world gather together to provide an internationalized way to make films. 

    Chinese film market is so enormous that it seems to have gradually become an emerging Hollywood, which will help Chinese filmmakers to better draw on experience from their international partners. However, this does not mean foreign experience is always good. As I observe, Chinese filmmakers have a strong sense of self-esteem and honor, but they always hold that their way of telling stories is immature, and that they need people who know the international market better(such as me) to revise the play. I, nevertheless, take no interest in this job. I believe they have a good way of telling stories, although their mode of expression is different from ours. However, audience throughout the world are fond of this story-telling way with Chinese characteristics. Thence I contend that it is the most important thing for Sino-foreign co-productions to keep our own mode of expression. 

　　Chinese filmmakers must grasp domestic market

    Iain Smith: (British producer of Entrapment, Mad Max: Fury Road and Cold Mountain)

We established partnership with Hollywood in the early 20th century. As time passed, British market became increasingly dependent on Hollywood and America, which made us lose control of our own market. For this reason, of course, we have become an important partner of Hollywood. There are British teams in many large scale film productions.

    When it comes to China’s current environment, I think China is going through a unique situation, and it is likely to establish a Chinese Hollywood. However, during the process, speed and perfection should not be the priority, and you must be careful. The key is to grasp thriving domestic market. Only domestic market is grasped can an internationalized industry be established.

    The process of making a film is painstaking, and we need to get over barriers and reaching an understanding

    Tornatore (Italian director and screenwriter, director of The Legend of 1900)

    The film industry requires us to deal with different worlds. Take The Legend of 1900 for example. The story takes place in a ship in the early 20th century, but I have never lived in a ship in the early 20th century, then what shall I do? As a director, I have read all relevant materials, and gained the experience of living in a ship. That is a great thing for a film practitioner.

    With the development of film production industry, the relationship between producers and directors has changed greatly. When I just stepped into this industry, I only needed to communicate with the producer, talking about the story with him, and listening to his opinion about the screenplay. It was just communication between we two, and this process might take several months or even several years.

    But nowadays, things have changed. There are several producers, and many people are involved in production, including agents of companies, people in charge of law-related business, and people in charge of TV-related business. So, as a film director, I need to communicate with a dozen people. I need to talk with other distributors about distributing the film. I need to talk with persons in charge of the banks about commercial gains... Making a film is actually a very tough process. A co-production film needs more communication. For example, you partner’s opinion about the film may differ greatly from yours, and you may need to take more time and energy to explain a line or a scene of the film... Fortunately, in most cases, we could get over language barriers and reach an understanding. Therefore, we should treat co-production films with more open minds and horizons, as this kind of communication is actually an integration of thought and culture.

    What I want to add is that Italy is perhaps among the first countries that pay close attention to Chinese films. Every year, we invite Chinese films to take part in the film festival. Many Chinese directors enjoy very good reputation among Italian film critics and audience. In my opinion, current vitality of Chinese films is driven by explosive market, which will definitely make an impact on global film market. Personally, I like Chinese films very much, whether they are stories told by Chinese filmmakers themselves, or stories presented by foreign filmmakers.

　　First make good Chinese films, and then consider persuading audience of the world

    Raman Hui (American filmmaker, director of Monster Hunt)

    The most key issue in co-production films is the difference in language and culture. Take Kung Fu Panda produced by DreamsWorks Studio for an example. We made both English version and Chinese version. If you know about the two languages, you will find that many dialogues in the two versions are completely different: the Chinese version is targeted for Chinese audience, and Americans cannot understand the humor, while the English version is targeted for English audience. So, when we decided to make Monster Hunt, the first thing we considered was whether to make it into an international film or a Chinese film. In the end, we decided to shoot the film targeted for Chinese market. This is perhaps the main reason why the film didn’t do well at North American box office. If our target audience were international viewers, we would make some adjustments, in which case we would pay more attention to North American audience and wrote the screenplay and told stories.

    I think it is good to attract foreign teams to make films of Chinese stories, but it is unnecessary for all films to be co-production ones. The most important thing is that we should make our own good Chinese films. If Chinese audience don’t watch our own films, how can we persuade the audience of the world to watch? At the beginning, Hollywood didn’t intend to make films for the whole world. They just made films for Americans. As the number of audience increased gradually, the films they made became international products. I think Chinese film will experience this period, too.

     Novel, hometown and directorial debut, an interesting transformation

     Natalie Portman (American director and actress)

    I spent ten years on preparing and making the film A Tale of Love and Darkness. This evening, I will show it to Chinese audience. The original novel leaves me a very deep impression. It reminds me of my childhood and my family. I was born in Jerusalem. My family immigrated to America from Israel in 1930s. I think many people who have settled abroad will have some feelings when they come back to their hometown. Perhaps the hometown makes you feel disappointed. Perhaps it will become your goal to struggle for. Perhaps, for such a place, you give up the life you have been used to, which makes you have mixed feelings.

    Every time I read this novel, I would find something different and interesting. At the beginning, I found the language is beautiful. Then I became interested in the immigration issue it tells about. Later, I gradually understood the role of a mother, her love to her children, and different expectations from all sides. What are the contradictions between expectations and reality? What changes of her identity took place? I found there were more and more things that I was interested in. I must make it into a film!

    It is not easy for me to transform from an actress to a director. As an actress, I was used to expressing my ideas clearly, and I would say what I want to do several times every day. As a director, I find that I can't say I want this or that, and I have to say it very specifically. At the very beginning, this transformation is not easy for me. However, with the accumulation of experience, I become increasingly clearer about my ideas, which makes me think it is very interesting.