After ten years of development at break-neck speed, the market size and market climate of the Chinese cinema is still in the process of expansion and optimization. In 2018, total box office in mainland China exceeded the 60 billion yuan threshold while having sustained stead forward progress, generating more possibilities for both Chinese cinema and worldwide cinema. The 9th Beijing International Film Festival revolves around the growth of the global film industry to establish an internationalized and professional movie industry communication and cooperation platform. The Film Festival officially commenced on April 16 and will last for four days, one more day than previous editions, in order to offer more time and space conducive to interaction between participants and guests.
The "Beijing Film Market" adopts a "Demonstration ·Promotion · Transaction · Exchange" format to promote resource interactions and business negotiations pertaining to the core factors in the film industry. Comprised of five major segments, namely Exhibition, Project Pitches, Industry Conversations, Events & Activities, and Contract Signing Ceremony, contents will encompass all links in the film industry chain, from early-stage preparation to creativity and production in the middle and last but not least screening, the Film Market aims to offer comprehensive and thoughtful industrial services.
Apart from a one-day extension, the "Beijing Film Market" at the 9th Beijing International Film Festival also established a Copyright Transaction platform for the first time, and wellknown companies from both home and abroad have been invited to partake in copyright transaction and speak faceto-face with the scores of buyers, so as to foster a more professional film market and improve buyer and procuring process standards.
In addition, this year the Project Pitches section boasts a new Working In Process (WIP) segment, which provides services beneficial to interactions and exchanges with regards to a project's late-stage production, marketing and distribution. At the same time, seasoned industry purchasers have been invited and a market-decision group has been formed, which assesses and selects "Projects with Most Market Interest" in order to approve projects from an actual market operation point of view.
Commercial Interaction Platform
The Exhibition section is a vital platform where domestic and overseas film companies or organizations recommend projects and seek buyers and sellers. Following the increased frequency in the interaction between the Chinese and global film industries, the information sharing and market exchanges become more and more important. The Exhibition section assembles the world's most important film companies and organizations, and offers a fantastic negotiation opportunity for the transaction and trading of movie projects.
The Exhibition section at the 9th Beijing International Film Festival attracted the participation of a total of 202 exhibitors, including 71 Chinese exhibitors, alongside 130 companies registered as attending buyers, of which there are 36 Chinese attending buyers. International exhibitors and international attending buyers hail from 16 countries such as India, New Zealand, France, Italy, Japan, the United States and Thailand, which are all some of the most active countries in the film industry today. Exhibitors and participating guests come from a variety of film industry backgrounds, including production, distribution, copyright, technology, agenting and legal consultation, among other areas, capable of providing a full range of services beneficial to the progress of any movie.
The debuting Copyright Transaction platform garnered the attention of a myriad of long-standing film copyright agencies and operation firms such as exclusive owner of new media rights to outstanding films like White Snake, The Island and Dying to Survive Jiecheng Huashi TV Culture and Media Company, seasoned copyright collaborator and operator Fuxingzhe Copyright Agent (Beijing) Co., Ltd., owner of 17 independently developed animation and comics intellectual property right projects Danqing Film Culture Transmission (Beijing) Co., Ltd., owner of copyrights for multiple distinguished and diverse international works Jushi Films, and dedicated investor and producer of special effect and stunt films, animation, comics, and film and television productions in the creative cultural sector Yellow Mountain Studio. This platform has consolidated the most diverse array of Chinese and foreign movie transaction resources and will help fuel the comprehensive growth of Chinese cinema.
With regards to the issue of copyright protection, the Industry Conversations section of the "Beijing Film Market" has set up a dialogue with the theme "data-driven international copyright trade and protection". In the age of the internet, online copyright piracy and infringement have grown cancerous and impede movie industry advancement. Preliminary estimations show that box office for films premiered during the 2019 Chinese New Year accrued a loss of up to RMB1.52 billion, and the resolution of the copyright piracy issue has become a tricky thorn in the side of intellectual property protection. This industry dialogue will invite deputy director of the National Film Bureau Meng Xianglin, director of the Enforcement Division of the National Copyright Administration Zhao Jie, vice president of China Film Co., Ltd. Zhou Baolin, and Qitai Culture Development Group chairperson Yang Shuo as main guests to share their insights on international copyright trade and protection in the age of data.
During the span of the exhibition a number of Events & Activities will also be held, industry resources will be consolidated, and a diverse array of solutions will be provided including project pitches, corporate announcements and salons in order to cater to domestic and overseas film organizations and companies in their needs for branding, business and project advertisement. Events & Activities include Chinese Screenplay Themed Summit, the "Focus on Italy" - Sino-Italian Film Cooperation Roundtable, Chinese Film Distribution and Sales Forum, "Boundaries to Science, No Limits to Fiction" - Chinese Movie Sci-fi Aesthetics Forum and "Belt and Road" Animation and Comic Film and TV Project Recommendation and Venture Capital Meeting, among others, all of which fully reflect the development ecosystem of contemporary Chinese cinema and the interactions between Chinese and worldwide cinemas.
Opportunity for Young Filmmakers
For young filmmakers with a sense of mission and full of anticipation, one of the most difficult issues hampering creativity is funding, and it is often the case that those with the imagination could not find opportunities in the real world. The Project Pitches section of the "Beijing Film Market" is precisely a platform that aims to connect creators with capital, and is a platform dedicated to the showcase, incubation and transaction of high quality movie projects.
This year's Project Pitches section has solicited 735 projects, a record-breaking number of applications in the Project Pitches section of the Beijing International Film Festival. On April 16, persons in charge of the top ten short- listed venture capital projects and the top six works in progress participated in an opened project road show, during which they introduced their respective projects to the event jury panel and guests. The Project Pitches Cocktail Party will be held on the evening of April 17, and the list of award- winners will be announced, who will be presented with their awards by the event jury panel. On April 18 and 19, the 26 short-listed projects will partake in opened negotiation for cooperation, where participants will continue to discuss with capitals about the possibilities of further partnership.
Since its inception, the Project Pitches section of the "Beijing Film Market" has successfully incubated a raft of young directors and their pieces. Of which, Suburban Birds, a top 20 candidate in the Project Pitches of the 7th Beijing International Film Festival, will premier this year. The experience of success of these up-and-coming directors is very valuable to those that yearn to create. Therefore, this year's Industry Conversations section will also feature a dialogue with the theme "Road to the Rise of Young Chinese Directors," and director Qiu Sheng of Suburban Birds fame will attend the conversation as a speaker, who will be joined by the director of Under Eyesight Liang Ming, director of Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains Gu Xiaogang, director of Cannot Be Killed Xu Xiangyun, and director of Ha Ri Fu Baoyin Geshgar. Together, the speakers will share the bitterness and sweetness that accompany the growth of young directors, and discuss about how the Project Pitches platform can aid the development of Chinese cinema.
During the 2019 Chinese New Year period, a young director's sci-fi creation The Wandering Earth left all viewers awed and amazed. People were stunned by how this director, who has never directed a sci-fi film and has only shot two previous movies, could so deftly complete a production with such extensive industry involvement. In the MPA Hollywood Master's Class also in the Industry Conversations section, The Wandering Earth director Frant Gwo and Concept Design Director Zhang Bo will take the helm in a dialogue surrounding the theme "A Look at the Industrialized Production in Chinese Cinema from the Perspective of the Film The Wandering Earth". Frant Gwo, formerly a first-hand participant in the Chinese-American Film Talents Exchange Program, who learned and toured around Hollywood alongside numerous other young directors, has emphatically proven his worth with The Wandering Earth.
The "Beijing Film Market" at the 9th Beijing International Film Festival provides different levels of care and support contributive to the ascent of young filmmakers. On the one hand, the Project Pitches platform opens a gateway by which they may negotiate with film investors; and on the other hand, the issue-specific Industry Conversations open new pathways for them to actualize their cinematic creativity and offer valuable and proven experiences of success.
Reality is Beautiful, the Future is Full of Potential
The growth and strengthening of the Chinese film market has brought about an unprecedented scope of opportunities for many movie-makers. An even greater number of creativity-driven individuals have accomplished their objectives, the film market has been enriched with a more diversified mix of offerings, viewers have been given more options, and on the other end of the spectrum, the divergence of audience interest and preference mean more survival possibilities for films in different genres.
Under such a backdrop, the "Beijing Film Market" has designed specific and interactive exchanges and themes, with the hope of realizing information and connectivity in order to assist filmmakers to identify problems and find solutions during their development process.
One manifestation of the prosperity of the film market is an improved chance for an individual to succeed as a movie director. The screenwriter is one of the professions most closely associated with movie director. In recent years, a considerable number of screenwriters have pivoted to the role of director after creating successful pieces and accumulating a certain level of experience. "The Road from Writer to Director" Industry Conversation has invited a raft of filmmakers who made the transition from writer to director, and they will share their experiences and wisdoms, and put forth suggestions beneficial to the professional career progress of rookie scriptwriters.
Web film and television is a prominent trend in cinema development today, and quite a few outstanding movies that we come to know and love began as productions on the online platform, take for instance Roma, winner of Best Director at this year's Academy Awards. The rapid growth of online film and TV in China urgently mandates standardized administration and professionalized creativity in order to establish a positive system of development and competition. The "Opportunities and Challenges in Web Film and Television in 2019" Industry Conversation has invited Party Group member of the China Film Association, president of the China Film Critics Association and director of the Web Film Work Committee of the China Film Association Rao Shuguang, vice president and Chief Brand Officer of Ciwen Media Zhao Bin, founder and CEO of TEMNG Yin Chao, director of the Literature Copyright Marketing Department of iQiyi Jiang Jun and other guests to participate in a dialogue that will discuss creativity, investment, distribution and other aspects with an emphasis on web film and television.
The Contract Signing Ceremony is the paramount section of the "Beijing Film Market", symbolizes the feats it has achieved by the "Beijing Film Market" and heralds the future prospects of the growth of the movie industry. Through a series of launches and premiers of hotly anticipated films, blockbuster projects and cooperation of relevant companies, the Contract Signing Ceremony captures the attention both in and out of the industry, raise the morale of the industry and its professionals, and provides an opportunity for exchange and communication among industry participants.
Staying abreast of China's development goal of transforming from a big movie nation into a powerful movie nation, leaning upon China and based in Beijing, the "Beijing Film Market" propels Chinese and global film industries expansion.
