On April 26, the 13th BJIFF China Film Investment and Financing Summit was successfully held in Beijing. The summit is hosted by the BJIFF Organizing Committee, jointly hosted by China Film Foundation and Poly Culture Group Corporation Limited, jointly organized by Poly Film Investment Co., Ltd. and Online Film Market Co., Ltd. Bank of Beijing Co., Ltd., the only officially exclusive financial institution partner of the 13th BJIFF, provided special support for this summit. 

　　

　　Site of China Film Investment and Financing Summit

Leaders responsible for film industry in important provinces, representatives of film and television investment institutions, production companies and enterprises attended the summit, such as Wei Xiaoyu, Deputy Secretary of the Party Leadership Group, Vice President and Secretary of the Party Committee of Beijing Radio & Television Station, and Deputy Secretary General of the 13th BJIFF Organizing Committee, Zhang Pimin, Chairman of China Film Foundation, Rao Shuguang, President of the China Film Critics Association, Dai Wei, Assistant to the President and Corporate Business Director of Bank of Beijing, Huang Qunfei, Executive Vice General Manager of Huaxia Film Distribution Co., Ltd., Li Weiqiang, Chairman of Poly Pictures Investment Co., Ltd., Jiang Defu, Executive President of Bona Film Group, Yin Xiangjin, Senior Assistant to the President of Wanda Cultural Industry Group & General Manager of Wanda Film and Television Media Co., Ltd., Li Tingwei, General Manager of Poly Pictures Investment Co., Ltd., Qian Zhongyuan, Chief Producer of the As One Production, Qiu Lin, Equity Partner of Beijing Jotai Law Firm, Song Weicai, Professor and Doctoral Supervisor in the School of Art and Communication, Beijing Normal University, Zhu Yuqing, Director of the Film Investment and Financing Development Fund, China Film Foundation, Founder of Online Film Market Co., Ltd., as well as the special guest Liu Boming, a special-grade astronaut of the PLA Astronaut Corps.  

　　▍Discussion on High-Quality Development of Film Industry 

　

　　Wei Xiaoyu, Deputy Secretary of the Party Leadership Group, Vice President and Secretary of the Party Committee of Beijing Radio & Television Station, and Deputy Secretary General of the 13th BJIFF Organizing Committee 

As Wei Xiaoyu said in her speech, Chinese film industry has once again ushered in new opportunities for development with the comprehensive recovery of film creation, investment, production, distribution and screening. Chinese films have entered a new stage of quality and efficiency improvement. Facing the new opportunities and challenges, the deep integration and cooperation between Chinese film industry and financial & investment institutions are the important measure to boost Chinese films to leap from a big film producer to a film power. China Film Investment and Financing Summit has rich experience in creating a new platform for exchange and cooperation between the film industry and the financial & investment institutions. It is also a concrete measure to implement the relevant deployment of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, especially the new idea of "integrating cultural and financial innovation” in Beijing. 

　　Zhang Pimin, Chairman of China Film Foundation, former Deputy Director General of the National Radio and Television Administration 

As Zhang Pimin emphasized in his speech, the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China has put forward clear requirements for the cultural and film industry development in China. Standing at the starting point of a new era and a new journey, we should focus on the high-quality development of film industry and strive for the building of a film power. Investment and financing serve as an important economic support for the promotion of film industry and the improvement of industrialization. It is of great value and significance to successfully hold the China Film Investment and Financing Summit and issue the China Film Investment and Financing Development Report to provide strong support for the development of film industry. All the filmmakers are expected to come up with more good ideas and produce more excellent films to win the audiences, expand the market and boost the confidence of financial investment community in the development of film industry. 

　　

　　Dai Wei, Assistant to the President and Corporate Business Director of Bank of Beijing

As Dai Wei said in his speech, the system of Chinese film industry is being constantly improved and the comprehensive strength is being steadily enhanced with great potential, strong tenacity and vigorous vitality. Film industry is steadily marching towards the goal of building a film power. Bank of Beijing has always adhered to the original aspiration of cultural finance to promote the deep integration between the film industry and the finance through top strategic planning, featured product supply and efficient cooperation. With the gradual recovery of film market, Bank of Beijing will continue to increase its support for the film industry, deepen the integration and innovation between the finance and the film industry, adhere to the highest standards and serve the high-quality development of the film industry. 

　　▍Focus on high-quality development of film industry

At the forum themed Film Investment, Financing and High-quality Development, guest moderator Rao Shuguang discussed with the attending experts Huang Qunfei, Li Tingwei, Jiang Defu, Yin Xiangjin, Qian Zhongyuan and Qiu Lin on some topics such as how to achieve high-quality development of film industry and the building of a film power through investment and financing, so as to make contributions to the construction of a cultural power. 

　　Huang Qunfei, Executive Vice General Manager of Huaxia Film Distribution Co., Ltd. 

According to Huang Qunfei, the film industry is quickly recovering now, and the road to high-quality development is becoming more and more solid. In terms of the building of a film power, film investment and financing will play an irreplaceable role. As a state-owned enterprise, Huaxia Film Distribution Co., Ltd. will play a guiding role in the road to high-quality development of a film power. In the future, the company will change its investment model from a participant of private enterprise films and vigorously support the film post-production of private enterprises that lack funds, and shift from an investor to a main controller, so as to highlight the social responsibility of state-owned cultural enterprises.

　　

　　Li Tingwei, General Manager of Poly Pictures Investment Co., Ltd.

Li Tingwei shared the thinking and layout of the company for the future of Chinese films. As he pointed out, there are "three highs" in the high-quality development of films: high-end, high-quality and high-level. High-end refers to the innovation in film technology, high-quality refers to good quality of film screening, high-level refers to excellent content output. The integration of technological innovation, film screening and content supply establishes the support for high quality. Poly Pictures Investment Co., Ltd. adheres to the strategy of "Four Businesses” to “achieve leadership, highlight characteristics, present excellent products” in terms of content layout. The company will stick to a multi-theme and multi-type development model with different scales. With regard to mechanism layout, the company will form industrial synergy through the studio mechanism and strive to achieve both social and economic benefits. 

　　

　　Jiang Defu, Executive President of Bona Film Group

Jiang Defu was deeply touched by the changes and challenges in film investment and financing. The “Mountain, River and Sea" series and "China Pride Trilogy" have received strong support and favor by the investors. However, The Battle at Lake Changjin once suffered from the capital withdrawal during the film process and the film financing is facing huge challenges. The investors and creators should be inclusive and honest with each other. Although we have gone through difficult times, we believe that film workers should devote themselves to creation under the background of the rapid recovery of China's film and television market as well as the protection of various policies. All the filmmakers must persist in innovative expression and creative transformation, so as to jointly build a film power. 

　　

　　Yin Xiangjin, Senior Assistant to the President of Wanda Cultural Industry Group & General Manager of Wanda Film and Television Media Co., Ltd.

Yin Xiangjin emphasized that film and television investment should regard the film industry as a long-term, stable, sustainable and professional industry. The screenings during the Spring Festival once again prove that a good film is just a high-quality film. How to achieve higher box office for different types of films in different screening schedules should be the first consideration of film and television investors and creators, so that they can judge and plan more competitive films for the market in the future. That is the prerequisite for the long-term and stable development of the film and television industry. In the past years, based on the long-term optimism for the film industry, Wanda has greatly increased the investment on the infrastructure of cinema chains and provided a lot of front-end data support for film and television creation. In the future, we will strive for more innovation based on stable development and try to capture young audiences by content driving. 

　　

　　Qian Zhongyuan, Chief Producer of the As One Production

Qian Zhongyuan believes that the core team and the type of film are the key factors that can attract investment for film project, but the most fundamental one is a good story and script. In terms of actual financing, it is necessary to tell the investors why the investment is so high and whether the costs can be further controlled so as to solve their doubts as much as possible. We should treat each other with sincerity in compliant with the reasons and regulations. Meanwhile, he has always focused on the creation of film series including Detective Chinatown and Sheep Without a Shepherd. He pointed out that the film series could continue to attract the audience's attention with various derivative developments at the same time. In the future, we should keep learning during the film production, carry out series development of the film Lost in the Stars and strive to contribute to the high-quality development of Chinese films.

　　

　　Qiu Lin, Equity Partner of Beijing Jotai Law Firm

As Qiu Lin said in her speech, the film industry has the advantage of attracting attention resources by nature. Although the core value depends on content value, box office and imagination space, it is also necessary to establish a highly flexible market system such as copyright evaluation, pledge and trading to broaden the financing channels. Thus, the standardized development of the industry should be vital. With regard to the companies, we should strengthen the scientific and compliant governance, especially the financing methods should be restructured after the establishment of full registration system; with regard to the projects, we should build a stable transaction model to meet the different interests of both parties while making risk prediction, assessment and isolation. It’s expected that the film and television industry will definitely achieve a substantial leap under the model of "film + finance + law”. 

　　

　　Rao Shuguang, President of the China Film Critics Association

As Rao Shuguang concluded in his speech, film is a high-input, high-risk and high-yield industry which needs the support of the capital and whole society. However, the most important thing is that filmmakers should do a good job in the professional field. Filmmakers should practice the internal skills hard and improve the ability of creative transformation and innovative development, which is the foundation of film development. All the filmmakers should take root in the social life and the grassroots, and find more good stories from life and social reality. They should also adhere to the warm realism and make use of more high-quality films to bring more mental and emotional strength for the rise of China and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

　　▍China Film Investment and Financing Development Report (2022) issued 

As the highlight of this summit, China Film Investment and Financing Development Report (2022) was grandly released on the site. The report aims to comprehensively analyze the phenomena, changes and trends in the field of film investment and financing in China in 2022, sort out the achievements of financial investment cooperation, summarize the experience of integrated development between the film and television finance and the capitals, so as to set the benchmark with authoritative professional standards. 

　　

　　Zhu Yuqing, Director of the Film Investment and Financing Development Fund, China Film Foundation, Founder of Online Film Market Co., Ltd.

Zhu Yuqing, the editor-in-chief, interpreted the report on behalf of the editorial board. He pointed out five main characteristics of film investment and financing in 2022: 1) The film industry recovery suffered from frustration and production capacity faced great challenges; 2) The capital market was shrinking, film and television companies bore great pressures; 3) The number of private equity financing kept declining and large-scale investments greatly reduced; 4) Small and medium-sized enterprises continued to be active and financing rounds tended to be brought ahead of schedule; 5) Substantial shift to financial institutions and financing conditions became increasingly strict. He hoped that most filmmakers should cherish the hard-won opportunities and the investment and financing environment due to the industry recovery this year, so as to create more high-quality masterpieces and boost the investor’s confidence. 

　　

　　Investment and Financing Development Report (2022) and start China Film Investment and Financing Development Report (2023)

On the site, Wei Xiaoyu, Zhang Pimin, Rao Shuguang, Dai Wei, Huang Qunfei, Li Weiqiang, Song Weicai and other attending guests attended the releasing ceremony of the report. At the same time, the compilation of China Film Investment and Financing Report (2023) was also launched to continuously focus on the latest development and trend in the field of film investment and financing, provide intellectual support and academic strength for the development of the film industry.

　　▍Signature and Release of Key Films

On the site of the summit, Chen Ke, Deputy General Manager of Poly Pictures Investment Co., Ltd. released the video of film schedules. As he said in his speech, since the company establishment 20 years ago, Poly Pictures has always conveyed the spirit of the times with film, displayed the beauty of culture with screen and continuously accumulated strength for inheritance and innovation. The main producer of cooperative films released and promoted the key films under preparation, and Poly Pictures also signed agreements with important partners on the spot. Liu Yulin, a young female director who won the Best Narrative at the Student Academy Awards, introduced her new film 50 Years of Confession. The cast & crew of the other four important films Space Knight, Macau Operation, K165 China Rescue and Home Operation also showed up to promote and release the films. Witnessed by the attending guests, Poly Pictures signed agreement on the site with the main presenters of the films 50 Years of Confession, Beidou, Space Knight, Macau Operation, K165 China Rescue, Home Operation and Just By My Side.

　　

　　

　　

　　

　　

　　

　　

　　Site of Promotion, Release and Signing Ceremony of Some Projects

Some blockbusters have also been released at the forum. The film Breakthrough directed by the famous director, Yang Zhen, interprets the youth in the flames of war in the past. The film is widely known due to the performance of common college students. The film Our Fiery Romance directed by Ma Xiaogang focuses on the youth, entrepreneurship and love of the post-90s generation, and the first poster was released. Zhang Linshu, a famous producer, brought the former hot drama Home with Kids to the film screen, and the film Think Like A Dog will be released this summer. Some wonderful clips of The TunPu, a film reflecting the descendants of the old Han people who fight against Japanese aggression, were also released at the forum. The chief producer, Yuan Xibo, announced the film to be released in the second half of this year. Chen Maoyue, Chairman of Qinghe Film and Television Base in Zhangjiakou city, sincerely invited all the industry colleagues to experience the rich film and television shooting resources at the base. 

In the warm season in April, we gather together for films and create light with joint efforts. Let’s start from the dream of light and shadow and take the chance of investment and financing to sail forward and pursue dreams for joint contribution for the high-quality development of film industry and the building of a film power!