SIFF-ting Fact From Fiction
There’s little doubt that the Shanghai International Film Festival [SIFF] is the most important event of its kind in China, but the jury remains undecided on what impact it has globally, or on the growing domestic film industry.
The Chinese film industry is developing, both in physical scope and prominence, with the first quarter of this year seeing 18 new screens per day opening in China.
The appetite for new Hollywood/China co- productions has also been much discussed in recent months, with China’s richest man, Wang Jianlin, owner of the country’s largest commercial land development company, Dalian Wanda, inviting Hollywood executives and a star-studded group of actors, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Nicole Kidman, to a ground- breaking ceremony for his massive film park in the northern city of Qingdao.
Wang announced that by 2016, he would build an $8.2 billion film complex in Qingdao, the Oriental Movie Metropolis, with capacity to make 100 domestic and 30 foreign films per year.
Rob Cain, partner in film co-production company, Pacific Bridge Pictures, and founder of ChinaFilmBiz, a blog that analyses China’s film industry, points to this growing confidence in the domestic film market as a major shift for the industry.
“I guess one of the biggest changes has been the domestic industry. It has really come into its own and has been able to stand up to foreign competition. I think that’s something that’s been developing and will continue as the filmmakers, production companies and distributors get more sophisticated and more capable of delivering better experiences,” he told Talk.
Although major domestic production companies, including DMG Entertainment, which saw great success from its affiliation with Iron Man 3, are an exciting development and are pushing the central government to loosen censorship restrictions in order to foster the burgeoning film industry, Cain sees no reason for China to loosen foreign film quotas in the near future. Nor does he think it likely that audiences will flock to purely domestic productions over Hollywood and Hong Kong affiliates, which currently make up well over 50 per cent of the domestic China box office.
“There’s a really important limiting factor, which is the heavy censorship and limits on the stories that domestic filmmakers can tell,” Cain explained.
“The censorship applies to every film released in China, wherever it comes from, but at least the films coming from outside of China are coming from a place where there is much more freedom of expression and thus have more leeway to tell the kinds of stories that are fully expressive creatively and also allow them to include elements that are commercially successful.”
As with the rest of the world, there is also a lament from movie world insiders about the pull of blockbusters drowning out the creative voices of Chinese directors making independent films telling authentic China stories.
Jia Zhangke, perhaps China’s most famous indie filmmaker, has always made an effort to court government officials and censors in order to ensure his films are shown in China, though his most recent effort, “A Touch of Sin”, which was released internationally in 2013, has yet to be approved for release here.
According to Jia, independent films are only becoming harder to get to the market in China – partly because of the authorities and partly because of the public’s insatiable appetite for blockbusters.
"When I first started shooting independent films, there was strong support from Chinese society, including from the media. Everyone wanted to discuss and comment on these films," Jia said in a recent interview with AFP. "Now... the public doesn't know these films exist."
There is hope from optimistic art-house lovers in China that audiences with a growing appetite for film in all of its forms will embrace smaller domestic productions alongside Hollywood blockbusters.
A recent success story for the optimists has been indie director Diao Yinan’s gritty thriller, “Black Coal, Thin Ice” – an unvarnished portrayal of modern China which is enjoying unprecedented domestic success. The film recently became the first art-house production to make more than RMB 100 million at the domestic box office and also took home the Golden Bear award at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival.
But what does all this mean for the Shanghai International Film Festival? For a start, it means the festival is part of fostering a dynamic and growing industry in China, an aim SIFF Organising Committee Managing Director, Fu Wenxia, believes is paramount to the festival’s mission.
“As a key film industry platform, the SIFF plays an important role in developing China’s film industry and enhancing cultural exchange,” Fu said.
“The SIFF has been successfully held for 16 years, during which time thousands of films have been shown, more than 10,000 guests have attended the Golden Goblet Awards and more than 1.3 million fans have participated in SIFF events. The nine-day film festival in June has become an essential part of Shanghai culture.”
Indeed, Rob Cain agrees that SIFF is at a level of development where it is written off as a backwater festival. The major issue now is for SIFF to carve out a unique identity that takes it from being a known entity to an unmissable one.
“It is well known enough now that anybody who is in the business of making, selling or marketing movies, they’ll know when it’s happening,” he said.
“I think it doesn’t know exactly what it stands for, it doesn’t have the same sort of brand that a Cannes or a Sundance, a Toronto or a Venice, have carved out in terms of specific niches for themselves. Shanghai’s just the big one in China.”
SIFF’s long time mascot and recently crowned “International Ambassador”, Yue-Sai Kan, has seen the festival develop over the nine years she has been involved as a conduit to international stars, utilising her personal relationships to attract actors and filmmakers from around the world to grace SIFF’s red carpet.
She told Talk that this year has been one of upheaval for the festival, with changes to some key personnel, though she is quick to add that the shakeup has been just the push the festival needed to make itself a more focused enterprise.
In what is being hailed as a savvy move by insiders, SIFF is undergoing its own “pivot to Asia” (to borrow a phrase made famous by the Obama administration).
“I think the festival will now become more Asian-centric, instead of being just Hollywood, Hollywood, Hollywood. We want to get more focused on the Asian part of it,” Kan said.
“I’m sure, as the years go by, we will only become more connected with Korea, Japan and India. This is a new idea for the film festival and I think it will be very interesting to see how this works.”
As well as having their eyes on Asia, SIFF organisers are also focused on the future of Chinese film. This includes the promotion of new talent and broadening people’s exposure to different (read: alternative) kinds of cinema such as art house and foreign language films not usually easily accessible to Chinese cinemagoers.
“Our main goals for the future are to promote the development of China’s film industry and foster new talent. We’ve achieved significant progress in these areas so far – for example, China’s increasingly international outlook has shaped directors like Zhang Meng, who won several awards for “The Piano in A Factory”, Fu explained.
“Fostering talent is key to advancing the film industry, which is why the New Talent Project will continue to be a priority for SIFF moving forward. We will also continue to be a platform for promoting film markets in China and abroad.”
Star Attractions
According to the festival’s International Ambassador, Yue-Sai Kan, international guests at the 17th SIFF will include British star Hugh Grant, as well as Academy Award winning French actress, Marion Cotillard.
The festival’s pivot to Asia has also led to an influx of Korean stars being invited to walk Shanghai’s red carpet, led by actor Byung-hun Lee (who Yue-Sai Kan describes as the “greatest character actor in Korea today”) and director Chan-wook Park.
This year’s jury president will be Chinese star, Gong Li, who will lead the committee charged with awarding the annual Golden Goblet award.
“By promoting the cultural industry of filmmaking, the Shanghai International Film Festival has played an increasingly important role in showcasing Chinese culture,” Li said in a statement. “I feel incredibly honoured to be able to serve as president of the jury for the Golden Goblet award and work alongside top filmmakers from around the world to discover outstanding new works that have deep human resonance.”
What’s Showing At SIFF?
SIFF’s programme is divided into different categories, making it easier to narrow down your area of interest. Keep in mind that films shown in languages other than English will have Chinese subtitles, not English ones. So, if you are looking for English-language films, the SIFF Highlights and Tribute to the Masters sections might be a good place to start.
The SIFF Highlights section includes a number of new, award-winning productions, such as Oscar winners, “Blue Jasmine”, by Woody Allen and “Nebraska”, from “Sideways” producer, Alexander Payne. In Tribute to the Masters, SIFF will screen aseriesofMarlonBrandoclassics,including“The Godfather”, “On The Waterfront”, “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Apocalypse Now”.
For the English and French Film Panorama, SIFF will screen several British films, including “The Selfish Giant” and “Philomena”, the latter a winner at the 2013 Venice Film Festival. The French films on show will be “Tip Top”, which was nominated for three awards at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, as well as 2014 César Award winner “Suzanne”.
For Italian-language films, check out the Focus Italy section, which is screening four classic Italian films, including “L' Intrepido” and “A Street in Palermo”, both nominees in the 70th Venice Film Festival.
German speakers are catered for in the Focus Germany section, featuring “Home from Home” by Edgar Reitz and “The Black Brothers”, a production by Swiss filmmaker and former SIFF Golden Goblet jury member Xarier Koller.
The Classic Reproduction section is home to timeless Chinese films, including “Love and Duty”, which is being shown in Shanghai for the first time since 1983. Zhang Yimou’s directorial debut and Golden Bear winner, “Red Sorghum Tianming's Golden Rooster winning “Song of the Phoenix”.
