Film in China 中国电影
Chinese Film Events 电影活动
Golden Rooster Awards 金鸡奖
The Golden Rooster Awards is the Chinese equivalent of the Oscar Awards.
The China Golden Rooster Award in Xiamen is one of the most famous events within the Chinese Film Industry. During this event Chinese film professionals from all over the world come together to meet and match.
The Golden Rooster Awards have existed since 1981. They are presented in Xiamen every year since 2019. Until now the awards were mainly focused on the best Chinese productions. In coming years, however, the best foreign film, including European productions, will also be selected as one of the award categories. The jury committee consists of professionals from academic, film business, and cinematographic circles.
The story behind the Golden Rooster: The year 1981 was the Chinese zodiac year of the Rooster. The award is inspired by the ancient stone tablet called Golden Rooster stone, which signifies the God of Theatre, protector of the performance arts, in Hongzhen village in Anhui.
Chinese Film Festivals 中国电影节
There are more than ten film festivals in China. The China Golden Rooster & Hundred Flowers Film Festival is number one.
The Beijing International Film Festival ranks second, and thereafter the Shanghai International Film Festival. Being number one, the China Golden Rooster & Hundred Flowers Film Festival started in 1981. Since 2019 it is organized every two years in Xiamen, where some 1,000 industry professionals participated in the festival. Among them were Chen Daoming, actor and chairman of the China Film Association CFA; Zhang Yimou, film director and vice-chairman of CFA, and Jackie Chan, director, actor, and filmmaker.
In 2021, the event in Xiamen will be organized for five days from the third week of November.
China Film Investment Forum 中国电影投资大会
The two-day China Film Investment Forum was set up for the first time during the 2020 Golden Rooster Awards.
The two-day China Film Investment Forum was set up for the first time during the 2020 Golden Rooster Awards. This annual organized forum provides a resource platform for capital, projects, and enterprises. It brings together investors, producers, and filmmakers.
The forum addresses the following topics:
• Evaluation of market trends in the film industry
• Presentations and talks of new technologies available in the film industry, such as suitability for internet, augmented realities, virtual reality, new stage techniques.
Presentation of the yearly China Film Investment Report. The report contains information on:
• Private equity marketing
• Stock listed companies.
• Project investment and funding
• Industry and risk management
China Film Industry 中国电影业
The Chinese film market today is the largest market in the world.
Despite the Corona pandemic in 2020 the Chinese film industry sold 26 billion euro in tickets: around 84 % of this amount consisted of revenue from Chinese productions, the rest was generated through foreign productions.
In 2020 the amount of audience numbered 550 million viewers, and some 650 Chinese productions were accomplished. One specific example gives a clear idea, in 2020 the historical war drama film on the Japanese invasion of China ‘’The Eight Hundred’’, registered 400 million euro in ticket sales.
Chinese Film Industry and its key players
China Film Group is the agency which has exclusive rights for importing foreign movies into China.
China Film Group is the agency which has exclusive rights for importing foreign movies into China. It has produced movies like Red Cliff, The Funding of the Republic, and the coproduction with Sony’s Colombia Tri-Star in a remake of The Karate Kid with Jacky Chan and Jaden Smith. Every year the group produces some 30 feature films, at least 400 television plays and 100 telefilms.
Though CFG and many of the other big film producing companies like Shanghai Film Group, Huaxia Film Distribution Co., DMG Entertainment, Huayi Brothers, Enlight Media and Bona Film Group, have capital involvement. The smaller companies are outstanding in creativity and avantgarde approaches. For instance, Zhang Yimou has his own production company, just like Wang Xiaoshuai, Jia Zhangke, and Feng Xiaogang. All four directors created international productions presented on all the major film festivals in the world.
Although the center of the film industry is still located in Beijing and Shanghai, Xiamen is the upcoming hub and gateway of the Chinese film industry in the future. Companies such as Alibaba Pictures, Tencent Pictures, Penguin Pictures, all have benefited from a strong financial foundation and are firmly rooted in the internet industry. They are also smart in publicity. At the production level, these internet giants have not yet produced enough major films, but the future development looks bright.
Combinations of complete control of the production and distribution chain are specific for the Chinese film industry. Bona Film Group, for instance, produces, contracts actors, specializes in technology, and maintains both distributions and build their own cinemas. With external investment they will provide the entire management of production and are listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange as well.
Emerging Market for Foreign Films in China
In 2019 foreign imported films amounted to 87 productions, the highest amount until now.
Revenues sequentially: The Indian low-cost production Dangka (Wrestling Competition, 2017) obtained 165 million Euro; from other foreign productions the highest production thereafter comes from Japan 61 million Euro, and the lowest Italian productions still almost 18 million.
In the past the highest turnover came from the American production ‘’Avengers, Infinity War (2018) which was 300 million Euro. In China there are two models for finance: one is shared turnover (producers 35%, distributor 17%, and cinema 48%), the other model is buy-off in which the Chinese buyer purchases the rights for distribution in China.