Indie Chinese directors in the spotlight
A film has to be very good or great to succeed these days. There has to be a reason why people should see this film in theatres and not on their computers. Glen Basner of FilmNation
CANNES: This year’s Cannes Film Festival will bring together two indie veterans from China’s so-called sixth generation of filmmakers – a group of mostly independent directors who made their mark on cinema after 1989.
Films by Jia Zhangke and Zhang Ming are to feature at the festival.
Jia’s fifth attempt at at the Palme d’Or, Ash is Purest White, is a gangster-fuelled revenge drama that is billed as his most expensive and mainstream film to date.
Meanwhile, Zhang will make his debut at Cannes in the independent Directors’ Fortnight programme with The Pluto Moment, a slow-moving relationship drama about a team of filmmakers scouting for locations and musical talent in China’s rural hinterland.
Zhang had made his directorial debut in 1996 with In Expectation, a feature about a controversial romance between a single labourer and a widowed hotel receptionist in a small town near the Three Gorges Dam.
In addition to the two entries, China is also being represented by Bi Gan’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night.
Among the Chinese stars who had walked the red carpet at the opening ceremony were Fan Bingbing, Li Yuchun, Celina Jade, Ma Sichun, Aaron Kwok, and Miao Miao.
Fan is in Cannes to promote the upcoming spy film 355 along with her co-stars Jessica Chastain, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, and Lupita Nyong’o.
Meanwhile, it’s quality over quantity as international buyers look for stars (Anne Hathaway, Mark Wahlberg), spectacle (the US$100 million Midway) and surefire material in the market (from Joan Didion to Bruce Springsteen).
New films, new players and, most important, a new sense of optimism promise to enliven this year’s Cannes market. After years of disruption and decline on the independent scene as fewer indie films scored at the box office and Netflix tore up traditional distribution models, executives point to strong sales in Berlin in February as a hopeful sign.
But while the Cannes market of old was a volume business of cookie-cutter features (the male-skewing actioner, the teen-chasing horror film), in today’s indie world, sellers are focusing on fewer titles — ones that can stand out in the crowd.
“International distributors are in need of product, but they’re also incredibly cautious because they’re in need of the right product,” reckoned Alex Walton, of international sales group Bloom, whose Cannes slate includes the action spoof Kung Fury, with Michael Fassbender, and The Last Thing He Wanted, starring Anne Hathaway, from Mudbound director Dee Rees.
“A film has to be very good or great to succeed these days,” added FilmNation’s Glen Basner. “There has to be a reason why people should see this film in theatres and not on their computers.”