“Caught up in the tide”
Provided by Cannes Film Festival
After a partial revival in 2023, Chinese films will return in a big way at this year’s 77th Cannes Film Festival. When announcing the 2024 lineup in April, festival chief Thierry Frémaux said, “China’s presence in the world film industry has been waning over the past three or four years.” He stressed that now, “China can enjoy the satisfaction of being in the major film industry.” The land of movies — back to the selections. ”
The harsh course of the pandemic, which kept China’s borders closed until January 2023, was the biggest obstacle the country’s film industry faced in participating in the West’s biggest film festival. During this period, the Chinese government simultaneously increased its regulatory oversight of the film sector, leading to fewer productions of artistically adventurous films and restricting Chinese distributors’ permission to import and release Western films of any category in the country. It has become even more difficult to obtain. Some in the Chinese industry were also concerned about the 2021 Cannes Film Festival’s decision to hold a surprise screening of an independent documentary. revolution of our time It is a harrowing record of China’s brutal crackdown on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests, making participation in future festivals a politically risky prospect.
But Chinese films began to trickle back in the lead-up to Cannes last year, including indie titles such as Singaporean filmmaker Anthony Chen’s Chinese drama breaking ice And Wei Shukun’s only the river flows In the “Un Certain Regard” section, along with works by Geng Zihan, A Song San Bleu Winner of the Director’s Fortnight award (Chinese documentary maker Wang Bing also had two films selected, but the director resides outside China and his most recent films have been co-productions with European countries) ).
This year’s official selection includes five titles spanning arthouse productions, genre filmmaking, and major commercial films.Cannes favorite Jia Zhangke returns to the main competition Caught up in the tideIt’s a “very fluid narration,” in Fremaux’s words, and is made up of footage Jia has shot across China over the past 25 years.Dramatic thriller from veteran Hong Kong director Peter Chan She’s Got No NameThe film, starring Zhang Ziyi and retelling the infamous story of China’s early women’s rights movement, is expected to be one of the summer’s biggest blockbusters in China, with Out of the Box at Cannes. It will be premiered in competition. Other selections include Guan Hu’s. black dog In “A Certain Point of View”, Lu Ye’s unfinished movie Special Screening Category: Action films directed by Soi Chan Twilight of the Warriors: Walled Get a slot in the Midnight Screening genre sidebar.
“For me, coming back to screen a film at Cannes after six years feels like finally returning to the world of cinema, especially after the tough times of the pandemic.” Tajia says. Entry in the competition section of Cannes 2018 Ash is the purest white.
With a bumper crop of Chinese titles included in the selection and the continued recovery of China’s box office following the pandemic, total theatrical revenue is now up 2.5 percent compared to 2023, with many analysts The list believes China has a chance to take over the world’s biggest spot from North America as it reaches box office territory in 2024 — which will boost international sales for Chinese titles at Cannes’ Marché du Film . But China’s foreign film buyers are expected to be far smaller and more selective than during the country’s box office boom in the 2010s.
From Hollywood headliners to European film festival titles, Western film production’s share of China’s box office pie remains at a generationally low level, far behind the international films claimed in the pre-pandemic era. Few in the industry expect market share to return to 30-40%. Last year, movies released overseas accounted for just 16% of China’s total annual box office revenue of $7.73 billion. And many of the biggest hits imported were Japanese anime.
Infotainment China Media, the Beijing-based company of veteran Chinese buyer Cindy Mi Lin, recently released a documentary in the United States. kim’s videoAfter scoring a sleeper hit at Sundance, she said she decided to pivot to acquiring remake rights at Cannes this year, rather than importing completed films from the United States and Europe.
“We believe that it will be difficult for foreign films to be released for a long time to come, so we decided to acquire the rights and remake them as Chinese films,” she said, adding that recent box office revenues of $479 million (3.4 billion yuan) ) mentioned the success ofWorks by Chinese director and star Jia Lin Yoroa remake of the 2014 Japanese film 100 yen love.
Some experienced Chinese buyers still believe that some Western films can be poked through China’s regulatory and commercial landscape.
“The Chinese public is becoming more and more demanding of quality. This is good for distributors like us who are focused on high-end films,” said the acquisition of last year’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner. said Julien Fabre, vice president of Chinese distribution company Road Pictures. structure of overturning. Road Pictures released the film in March, grossing just under $4 million (RMB28.3 million), with China ranking third behind France ($14.6 million) and North America ($5 million). It became the region that boasts the highest box office revenue.
Favre added: “As far as Western content is concerned, the challenge is to find international films that have universal appeal, transcend cultural divides, and resonate with Chinese audiences by focusing on themes that are organically relevant to Chinese society. The potential for a film to achieve this goal is huge.
For Jia, a consummate artist who has navigated the complexities of becoming the face of Chinese independent filmmaking on the world stage with extraordinary grace, just returning to Cannes is a statement in itself.
“In recent years, not many Chinese films have been screened at Cannes, but this year they are returning with their latest films. Several other Chinese filmmakers will also be there,” he says. “Together, we are telling the world that we never stopped. We never stopped filming and we never stopped telling our stories. Most importantly. , we never lost courage.”
