On November 15 at 14:30, one of the main events of the 2024 GRIFF Industry, the Golden Rooster Mainland Film Exchange Session (Breaking New Ground: Genre Choices Seen Through the Film Market), was held at the InterContinental Xiamen. At the film festival, a celebration for film lovers and a platform for showing new developments in Chinese cinema, the creative teams of four films, Her Story, The Breakup List, The Man in the Wig and Sheep Without a Shepherd 3, met the media, industry experts and audiences. Producer and film critic Tan Fei hosted the event.
Before the conversation began, Liu Bing, member of the Leading Party Members’ Group and Deputy Secretary-General of the China Film Association, stressed in a speech the responsibility of Chinese filmmakers, saying the industry should keep promoting the high-quality development of cinema, produce more good films and build momentum for the sustainable development of the film industry; Wang Shu, General Manager of Alibaba Pictures’ Beacon Pro, presented the 2024 Film Market Observation Report, giving a detailed analysis of the Chinese film market over the first ten months of the year: market trends, the composition of genres, audience preferences and the state of marketing and distribution. It pointed to a decline in the number of top-grossing films, in the number of operating cinemas and in average attendance per screening, and proposed responses: bringing more young audiences into cinemas, investing in storytelling and giving audiences something new. The report offered practitioners objective data and creative ideas; host Tan Fei summed up this year’s film market in four words, sour, sweet, bitter and spicy, analyzed problems in its development, and highlighted the social nature of film and the importance of diversity and innovation in film genres.
During the conversation, Tan Fei started from marketing and audiences and discussed the genre features of the four films with their creative teams. Her Story‘s creative team spoke first, on the film’s keywords “fresh and diverse, warm and healing“. Director Shao Yihui said the film grew out of the comfort her female friends gave her at a low point in her life, and that she wanted to use film to express her feelings about life’s disappointments. On the relationship between film and the market, she believes in making films with substance that stay true to the filmmaker’s own inner voice, and that like-minded audiences will follow. Lead actress Elaine Zhong said Her Story starts from women’s awakening, and she hoped to bring joy and warmth to audiences through her character Xiao Ye.
The Breakup List‘s creative team presented the film’s core idea around its keyword, “one last remedy before a breakup“. Director Tian Yusheng said that after The Ex-Files series, the relationships and emotions of his characters had entered a new stage, and he had also been left with some regrets from that work, so he chose The Breakup List as a new starting point for exploring new questions in romantic relationships. Lead actor Ou Hao said the film is like a mirror that offers today’s audiences healing and reflection. Lead actress Zeng Mengxue described the film as “moving, funny and sincere” and shared a line she arrived at while acting: “Love is a medicine; only those who take it know how it works.”
The Man in the Wig, Dong Yue’s second feature and a departure for actor Huang Xiaoming, was also represented by its creative team. The film addresses “social issues” and “the constraints of one’s origins” at its core and offers audiences a new story. Director Dong Yue said that marketing, making films and watching films involve different states of mind and ways of thinking, and filmmakers sometimes need to switch modes. Lead actor Huang Xiaoming said that after reading the script he was drawn to the protagonist’s inner conflict, disguise, confusion and darkness, and that he shaved his head for the film, becoming a real “man in a wig.”
Sheep Without a Shepherd 3‘s director Gan Jianyu and producer Ji Jing spoke about “strong genre storytelling” and “IP innovation” in the film. Gan Jianyu said genre filmmaking is an effective way to engage audiences and has its own conventions, and that filmmakers today must find different forms of expression within the same genre to meet audiences’ higher expectations. Producer Ji Jing stressed that filmmakers need to keep audiences’ expectations alive and continue to bring in new elements without upsetting the creative balance.
At the end of the event, the creative teams of the four films drew wishes written by audience members and read them aloud, an exchange that gave them a direct sense of what viewers want, and the event then concluded. Winning the audience is what matters most. The breakthroughs filmmakers need to make in genre filmmaking are an unavoidable part of the development of the film industry. The future of Chinese cinema holds hope and opportunity, and filmmakers have much work ahead. Renewing audiences’ interest and bringing them back to cinemas to experience the original appeal of film will be an important step for filmmakers.
