Shanghai opens doors to world of film, television

During the last few days, the silver screen has offered Shanghai a window to the world and a ticket to a larger chunk of change.

Shanghai threw the doors open to the world of film and television for the 8th Shanghai International Film Festival this week. The festival, a film and television market and two competitions, attracted some 3,700 global industry veterans.

At the same time, hundreds of screenings drew thousands of movie buffs to 17 screens across the city. More than 500 movies were registered and 200 from 49 different countries were screened.

"It was much more than we expected. It's the most people who have attended the film festival and the most films," Xu Pengle, principal festival spokesman, said.

"More and more foreign film companies and film producers are focusing on the Chinese market," he said. "The Chinese market is huge."

China may be slowly moving towards loosening its rules to allow additional foreign films into the country but as things stand now, the most expedient avenue for foreign companies to enter the market is through co-productions.

Co-operative productions were an underlying theme of the festival.

Since Warner Bros entered into a joint venture deal in China last year, other companies have been lining up at the gate. Meanwhile, there is a history of joint productions, particularly with neighbouring countries such as South Korea and Singapore.

Access to the huge Chinese market is part of the motivation for the scramble to get a foot in the door. Another is cheaper production costs.

Since "Kill Bill," which provided a precedent for films being made in Asia at lower cost, there has been a lot of talk in that direction, said Dede Nickerson Huang, a market consultant on Asia for Miramax.

The Shanghai festival, which is held every two years and is billed as the only international film event on the Chinese mainland, provides a discussion platform that may encourage those kinds of projects by bringing together industry professionals.

The festival "gives people the opportunity to look at movies, to look at projects, to exchange ideas," said Huang. "It's particularly timely to bring industry professionals from both sides of the table together."

This impetuswhich can benefit local production companies by elevating the quality of work done in Shanghaiis going a long way towards further lifting the international image of the Shanghai festival.

"I think in the past it was viewed more as a Chinese event, with not such a high international profile," Huang said. "I think the festival and industry leaders in China are making a big effort to change that."

The festival's television and film market, one of the four major components of the nine days of film, was a classic example.

Production companies from around the world had their products on offer. The big US studios had large booths alongside those of smaller production companies.

Deals were signed to fill the small screen with new products and co-operative efforts between local and foreign production companies were sparked.

Deals were also worked out behind the scenes and announced at one or another of myriad press conferences.

A new 20-episode drama series, "Twilight Harmony," will be filmed in both Shanghai and Singapore. The series will be a joint effort by Singapore's One Take Production and H's Mei Ah Entertainment Group.

MTV Asia, which has produced a music honours gala with the Shanghai Media and Entertainment Group, said it is looking forward to continuing efforts to develop new products.

"In the last year, we have made about 30 films through co-operation," said the festival's Xu. Last year, the top 10 box office hits in the country were co-production films.

Encouraging investment in film (both foreign and local) might well be the best way to help the local industry move forward.

"Allowing high net-worth local tax-payers to invest in qualifying films has (allowed) the Canadian, Australian, UK and now South African industries to evolve," said David Blake, of London's A&C Associates, a long-time film industry analyst.

Source: China Daily