China aiming for cinematic dominance to emulate US
BEIJING: The Chinese government has exhorted filmmakers to turn the country into a “strong film power” like the US by 2035 and called for the production of 100 movies a year that each earn more than 100 million yuan (RM63 million) as part of a push to increase China’s soft power.
The targets were set by Wang Xiaohui, executive deputy director of the Central Propaganda Department and director of the National Film Bureau, at the first nationwide industry symposium since the former agency took jurisdiction over the latter. Government officials, film scholars, representatives of major film companies and industry associations gathered in Beijing last week for a symposium that set the tone for the future development of China’s industry with the propaganda bureau in the driver’s seat.
The names of luminaries such as directors Chen Kaige, Zhang Yimou, Ning Hao, Guan Hu, and Huang Jianxin, as well as actors Zhang Ziyi, Wu Jing, and Chen Daoming, were on the list of attendees, according to the People’s Daily newspaper, the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party.
Wang was named head of China’s film bureau last May, following a major government restructuring. He said that a major concern is that “the international influence of Chinese film still has such a long way to go.” Last year, American films took in about US$2.8 billion in the China market, but Chinese films in the US market made only a few tens of millions. With its massive local box office, China had already become a “big film power,” but it needed to shift to becoming a “strong film power” like the US by 2035, he said.
“China has already taken its place at the centre of the world stage, and Chinese films must have their proper place in the world,” Wang said, according to the People’s Daily. “But the Chinese film industry’s current level of development is not commensurate with China’s national status. A country’s level of film development reflects its total national strength.”
He said that the biggest problem facing the Chinese film industry was one of quality. “Overall, our ability to tell stories lags far behind Hollywood and Bollywood’s,” Wang said.
The 100 films a year that gross more than US$15 million each should be “about realistic topics” and must “equally generate social impact and financial profits,” he said. They should take “the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” as their theme and have “patriotic plots.”