Opportunities for NZ in Asian cinema
Idare say we’re all staring more than usual at screens at the moment – and not just for remote working. The Covid-19 lockdown has left us at sixes and sevens, and while we probably all had good intentions to use this extra time at home to complete neglected DIY tasks or start ambitious fitness regimes, Netflix and other ondemand entertainment are in fact far more tempting.
For those parents working with school-aged children at home, TV has become a muchneeded tool as they juggle roles as employee, parent, teacher, cook and playmate.
And what I’ve noticed is that these streaming services have made Asian content much more mainstream.
It used to be that one watched Asian-made cinema at once-a-year film festivals; but thanks to streaming services there’s now a great diversity of TV and film made in Asia, about Asia, and for both Asian and non-Asian audiences.
There was much excitement when iconic Japanese animators Studio Ghibli announced their films would be available on Netflix this year; Spirited Away and Totoro are already bringing their unique brand of animated magic to NZ living rooms.
One of my staff tells me that her five-year-old is entranced by a Korean-made comedy about tiny aliens trying to evade human capture, and by an adventurous Indian baby called Mighty Little Bheem. While there are few words in children’s shows, there’s the universal language of humour, a great cultural leveller.
For adults, whether you want cultural insights, gritty crime dramas, romance or reality TV, there are plenty of offerings from across Asia. Beyond the obvious, if you let the credits roll on, you’ll also notice that even some English language films and television are in fact produced by Asia-based production houses. Things have come a long way since it was just The Simpsons being animated in South Korea.
Of course, many Asian film and television companies will be taking a huge hit this year because of Covid-19. Like the New Zealand film industry, they’ve had to pause productions.
But as in many areas of our economic rebuild, we may be able to look to Asia as a role model in how to bounce back. Some Asia film industries were certainly in a competitive position before this pandemic put the brakes on our economy. And the ‘soft power’ that films represent will become even more important as travel is limited for the foreseeable future.
Korean film Parasite has been lauded as a breakthrough for the Asian film industry, and its Oscar for Best Picture certainly is a milestone success. But what has been overlooked in that commentary is what the region’s industries had already been doing that may have escaped the notice of a panel of American film experts.
PWC predicted last year that 2020 would be the year that China would surpass the US as the world’s biggest film market. The two biggest earners in China last year were Chinese language films, made by Chinese directors: The Wandering Earth and Ne Zha. Together they made more than US$1.3 billion (NZ$2.14b) and made Chinese history in doing so.
Other smaller Asian markets have certainly been earning their keep too – total box office revenue in South Korea was US$1.6 billion last year, with more than half of that earned by locally-made films. Vietnam kicked off 2019 with locally-made box office hit Furie, about a badass martial arts mother trying to rescue her child from traffickers – it earned US$8.6 million and became the country’s biggest local earner ever.
While what happens next for these industries is anyone’s guess – this is uncharted territory for our global economy – it could be that when we’re all ready, we look to the region’s film industries for a hand-up on our economic recovery.
That might include looking to Asia-New Zealand co-productions to act as a showcase for prospective tourists (NZ has a lot of fine backdrops for car chases and romance); offering the professional skills of our talented film and television industry; or even pitching our New Zealand indie films to Asian audiences.
The NZ Film Commission has increasingly focused on partnerships in Asia in recent years. Whichever way you slice it, there are certainly opportunities for the film and television industries across Asia and New Zealand to work together.
And in the meantime, viewings of Asia-made content from our couches in New Zealand is a valid way to conduct research.
* Simon Draper is executive director of the Asia New Zealand Foundation