The opening forum of the 28th China Golden Rooster & Hundred Flowers Film Festival, co-hosted by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the China Film Association and the Xiamen Municipal People’s Government, was held in Xiamen on 19 November. Under the theme “Chinese Dream on Screen”, saluting the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, it traced the memories of China held by filmmakers and discussed the path of upgrading and development for Chinese cinema in the new era.
The forum was moderated by Rao Shuguang, member of the Party Group of the China Film Association and Director of the Film Art Center of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles. In his address, Yan Shaofei, Deputy Secretary of the Party Group and Secretary-General of the China Film Association, said that the recent National Day holiday season, the strongest on record, set off a nationwide wave of cinema-going, and films telling China’s stories such as My People, My Country, The Captain and The Climbers stirred national pride among audiences across the country: “Inspired by these films, people across the country looked back with deep feeling on the hard road the Republic has travelled and joined hands in pursuit of the great Chinese Dream.”
Ding Yaping, Director of the Film and Television Institute of the Chinese National Academy of Arts, and Song Ge, Chairman and President of Beijing Culture, delivered keynote speeches titled “Seventy Years of New China and the Revival of Film: Our Tasks” and “Upholding Fundamental Principles and Breaking New Ground to Promote the High-Quality Development of the Chinese Film Industry” respectively.
Ding Yaping covered three topics: the stages of film development over the 70 years of New China; the core trajectory of Chinese cinema from reform to revival; and our present tasks, including setting standards, strengthening internationalisation and building a talent pool. Song Ge said that, on the core premise of upholding fundamental principles while breaking new ground and adhering to mainstream values, his company follows a film selection approach of “strong stimulation, strong resonance, strong empathy” to open up more films of new genres and subjects for audiences.
Fu Ruoqing, General Manager of China Film Co., Ltd., Chairman of Huaxia Film Distribution and chief producer of My People, My Country; Wang Changtian, Chairman of Enlight Media; Li Shaohong, President of the China Film Directors’ Guild; and directors Xue Xiaolu and Guo Fan took part in the roundtable forum, with Zhao Ningyu, Dean of the Institute of Drama Art and Professor at the Beijing Film Academy, as guest moderator.
Fu Ruoqing shared the experience of the creation, production, publicity and distribution of My People, My Country: “I think the core point is that the creative work should start from ordinary people and create empathy and resonance with a wide audience. The whole journey was very hard, and also very rewarding.”
Wang Changtian discussed the success of the animated film Ne Zha: “This film tells audiences that your fate is decided by yourself and your happiness comes from striving. This theme fits closely with how young people think today, and it played a big role in the film becoming a ‘hit’.”
Li Shaohong, chief director of Liberation: The Final Rescue, due to reach audiences at the end of December, said: “Films on this kind of subject involve a great deal of history and even war. Everyone thinks war films are hard to make, but I am very interested in them. I value the opportunity to make this film and hope to tell more young people about the experiences and stories of my parents’ generation.”
Xue Xiaolu directed “Going Home”, one of the seven stories in My People, My Country, and brought her new film The Whistleblower to the festival. She believes that complete process systems and standards would greatly improve and help industrialised filmmaking: “In the more developed industrial workflows overseas, an English-language script can be turned directly into a production schedule by software and then used for storyboarded shooting.”
Guo Fan, director of The Wandering Earth, believes that if Chinese visual effects want to overtake on the bend, the most important thing is to build the “road” (industrial workflows and industry standards) well. Guo Fan revealed that he is preparing a sequel to The Wandering Earth, which will pay more attention to emotion in its storytelling and be more refined in art direction, visual effects and other areas. He and his team expect to spend three or four years on the script and concept design and another year preparing for the shoot, so it may take about five years.
