Shanghai explores genre conundrum

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Production Feature

Censorship, marketing and investment issues dominated a Shanghai International Film Festival 上海國際電影節 forum titled "Discovering the Next Film Genre" in a session marred by too many panellists, weak moderation and a general lack of focus before a meatier second half.

The first group of panellists consisted of actor/producer YANG Zi 楊子, Starlight International Media Group (北京星光國際傳媒集團) president SONG Guangcheng 宋光成, film director Dayyan ENG 伍仕賢 and financial journalist Zhang Jinghua (張京華), editor-in-chief of the Economic Observer.

Yang Zi immediately took the discussion off track with his declaration that bad investors only interested in "sex, reputation and money" are spoiling the Chinese film industry. He claimed that hot money in the industry has raised the prices of actors such that "real directors" cannot afford them. He concluded by stating that whatever the genre, China is never short of film audiences and that the market is far more tolerant and diversified than investors and critics give credit.

The next speaker, Song Guangcheng, argued that Chinese filmmakers cannot compete with Avatar and that history, tradition and classic stories are the "rich resources" available to Chinese film-makers. He said that although there some modern films such as Go! Lala Go! 杜拉拉升職記 (2010) and Eternal Moment 將愛情進行到底 have had box office successes, many more have suffered huge losses and in general they are a much higher risk to investors than historical movies. Song claimed that the Chinese title of Stellar's upcoming film, Daniel LEE 李仁港's White Vengeance 鴻門宴傳奇, about the legendary "Feast at Hong Gate" is alone worth RMB50 million ($7.7 million) in ticket sales.

Next up, film director Dayyan Eng said that he broadly agreed with the previous two speakers but insisted that modern films are also capable of having great depth and that urban themes continue to be popular among young audiences. He argued that, internationally, the most innovative films are those that broke traditional genre frameworks and that the Chinese film industry should make an enabling environment or risk audiences losing faith in domestic movies. He cited the example of his own film Waiting Alone 独自等待 (2004) that combined comedy and romantic elements in a new way for Chinese cinema that created challenges for the marketing team. His next film will be an action movie that obeys genre conventions. But he insisted that moviegoers don't care about genre when buying tickets, they primarily care about the story and the cast.

Journalist Zhang Jinghua closed the first panel with his assertion that the discussion so far had only focused on discovering the next money-making film genre. As a regular moviegoer, he said that he disagreed with Song's valuation of his movie title, claiming that the Chinese title of Stellar's upcoming Hong banquet movie represented a penalty of RMB50 million because he had no interest in watching famous stories with known plot twists and endings. Zhang was the first panellist to bring up the issue of how censorship restrictions restrict the range of genres, stating "We can only make films that are allowed by our society or authorities". Finally, he encouraged directors to simply make good films in any genre.

The second group of panellists included Hong Kong producer Manfred WONG 文雋 and film directors JIA Zhangke 賈樟柯 and ZHANG Yibai 張一白 (pictured).

Manfred Wong stated that, in China, there are only two kinds of genres: historical martial arts movies and low-budget film. He argued that the smaller films cannot be easily classified into any genre and are generally the personal manifesto of the film-makers. He pointed out that the past two years have been a breakthrough period for genre films in China with such films as The Message 風聲 (2009), Go! Lala Go!, Eternal Moment and Wind Blast 西風烈 (2010). They proved that genre films can catch the attention of Chinese audiences. He stated that the biggest handicap is censorship restrictions whereby policemen must be good guys, ghosts are forbidden and unmarried couples cannot live together. In addition, issues such as forced resettlement are off-limits.

As an example, Wong discussed Gordon CHAN 陳嘉上's Painted Skin 畫皮 (2008). Since ghosts are forbidden, the heroine was instead depicted as a fantastical monster that eats human hearts. Confused over the difference between ghosts and monsters, Wong said that he had spoken to censorship officials who told him that the restrictions are in place to protect rural audiences who may watch supernatural films and then believe that ghosts really exist. He noted that low-budget horror films had been successful in China in recent years, pointing to the box office of Midnight Beating 午夜心跳 (2010) that made over RMB31 million ($4.8 million) last year. His own film Bruce Lee My Brother 李小龍 (2010), which opened one month earlier, made less than half that amount despite having a higher budget, higher production values and an attractive subject and movie title.

Jia Zhangke stated that the Chinese market had many restrictions because of the censorship system. After shooting The World 世界 (2004), he wrote a screenplay that if he tried to categories it into one category, would be about sex. When it was going through the approval process, a government official read the screenplay and wrote that the film could not be made because an erotic film would violate the constitution. Jia said that he was afraid and didn't make the movie.

He said that he had always wanted to make a film about the fight between Communists, the Kuomintang and spies, but depicting the true history between these political powers. He conducted extensive research for the film but has not been able to shoot yet because espionage movies must not touch on sensitive political themes. If the film is to screen in China, then Communists must be portrayed as the most correct political power.

Jia also expressed confusion over the ban on ghosts in movies noting that in Chinese tradition, ghosts have always existed; even though people in modern times don't believe in ghosts, their depiction is not allowed. He stated that film-makers must first overcome these restrictions before the next film genre can be discovered. In the meantime, film-makers should start with the current permitted film genres and extend them. Jia said that he is currently preparing a martial arts film and believes that there is still room for innovation in the genre. As an example, he noted how film-makers in the 1970s introduced Peking Opera to martial arts movies to extend their range.

In addition to censorship restrictions, Jia said that Chinese filmmakers face one more challenge: a lack of experience in genre film-making. In big-budget Chinese films, most production staff are from Hong Kong while the China-side is responsible for raising the budget. He said that there is huge room for improvement in the professional skills of film directors in China, including himself, and that he and other directors still have a lot to learn from Hong Kong film-makers.

Zhang Yibai stated that he is also very aware of the constraints of funding, censorship and investor tastes. He agreed with Wong's assertion that in China the only genres are big movies and small movies. But because of censorship restrictions, "there is simply no market for small movies and they will perish." He claimed that films with big budgets are still the domain of the four most famous directors who have access to the resources and can make any movie that they want.

Zhang said that he also faced difficulties in his own career. Deprived of the budget to make big movies, he himself concentrated on urban love stories. He insisted that while he loves those stories, he also had no other choice. Now, other not-so-famous directors are facing similar problems.

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