Fujian Blue (dir. Robin Weng)
The value of Asia Society’s series China’s Past Present, Future on Film… is that it exposes us to a diverse group of lesser-known artists at a time when much of the discussion of contemporary Chinese cinema still revolves around big names like Jia Zhangke.
Andrew Chan reviews several of the titles playing at the Asia Society series, giving special mention to Robin Weng’s Fujian Blue.
Read the full article.
Cui Zi'en, director of Queer China, Comrade China, speaks at the Apple store in Beijing. (Photo: Robert Douglas)
Following up on our recent “Meet the Filmmakers” series at the Apple Store in Sanlitun, Beijing, here are a couple of links to local coverage of the events.
At The Beijinger, Dan Edwards talks to Karin Chien about the Apple Store events and China’s digital filmmaking revolution.
At the Global Times, Robert Powers reports on Apple Store appearances made by filmmakers Jian Yi and Cui Zi’en.
We’re pleased to announce that the “Meet the Filmmakers” series will continue with other filmmakers appearing at the Apple Store Sanlitun over the coming months. Stay tuned for details.
This is the second part of a three-part essay by Zhang Xianmin on the state of contemporary Chinese cinema. Read Parts One and Two.
Translation by Yuqian Yan
IV. New Theaters
Another aspect of capital operation is the development of new theaters and their surroundings. A significant trend is that after international capital was fully withdrawn from China due to policy reasons, the newly raised major players are all domestic partnerships.
Megabox Sanlitun Theater, Beijing
Withdrawn capital is mainly from the States and Europe, but those from Hong Kong or Korea are allowed to stay. Even though according to government policy, Hong Kong and Korean capital can only account for a small proportion, their existence allows theaters to maintain their original status as international chain brands. For example, the new theater built in the middle of Sanlitun, Beijing uses a Korean theater brand. One reason is that Hong Kong and Korean investors sometimes agree to disguise international capital under the name of domestic capital through an intermediary, whereas European and American investors always hesitate to make such a suspicious deal. For instance, Warner has stopped expanding its business in China for years. But European and American giants are just waiting for new policies that will offer better opportunities. In the long run, more than half of the Chinese theaters will be controlled by American capital in the future.
This is the second part of a three-part essay by Zhang Xianmin on the state of contemporary Chinese cinema. Read Part One. Part Three will be posted tomorrow.
Translation by Yuqian Yan
II. Long Live Capital: Non-stop Financing
Red Cliff (dir. John Woo)
The highest level of capital operations, where form and power converge, is to stack stars. The strategy is to stretch the shooting period so that new capital can be accumulated throughout the entire shooting and post-production period, new stars can keep on joining the film during the entire shooting period, the film can be revised over and over again to satisfy new investors, and new plotlines can be added to accommodate newly joined starts. Red Cliff is the first film that is close to this strategy. Its shooting period was so long that they had to make the film into two parts otherwise there would be no chance to make any money. But the version released in the States only has one part.
In 2009, apart from Founding of the Republic, another prominent example of commercial blockbusters using such open strategy during production is Bodyguards and Assassins. Even after the shooting was started, it continued to attract huge capital and film starts from Hong Kong and Taiwan. This is the third stage of financing.
The first stage is that traditionally one film only has one definite copyright owner. The second stage is comprehensive financing, but the ownership has already been divided before the shooting starts. We are now on the third stage, where ownership division and profit share probably will not be determined until distribution.
Ghost Town (dir. Zhao Dayong)
Following its triumphant US Premiere at the 2009 New York Film Festival, Zhao Dayong’s Ghost Town will enjoy a weeklong run at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The MoMA will screen Ghost Town at the following dates:
Tickets can be purchased at the MoMA Film Box Office adjacent to the The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street, New York, NY. Details at the MoMA site.
Further details and trailer after the break.
This is the first part of a three-part essay by Zhang Xianmin on the state of contemporary Chinese cinema. Parts two and three will be published later this week.
Translation by Yuqian Yan
Hail! Hail! Hail! The State of Chinese Cinema in 2009
I. Long Live the Motherland
The Founding of a Republic (dir. Han Sanping)
The Founding of the Republic reflects many demands of the film industry beyond film itself, and it has all but achieved these goals.
First of all, it reveals a reality that is shared by many other fields and industries. In the past several years, resources have been accumulated and controlled by several state-owned, monopolistic enterprises. This is a common phenomenon in the economy.
In the world of culture, different kinds of people collaborated on the one blockbuster film of 2009. For the 60th anniversary of the founding of People’s Republic of China, this blockbuster was eventually taken over from big-name directors by the presidents of state-owned enterprises. It’s almost like the chief director of China Central TV directing the Spring Festival Gala. The only distinction of this year is that in the past fifteen years, imported blockbusters were the nightmare of Chinese films every month; in the past five years, the domestic film market was dominated by three Chinese blockbusters every year. In 2007 and 2008, domestic blockbusters such as Lust, Caution, Assembly and Warlords all had difficulties in production or in passing the censors. Luckily, there is only one domestic blockbuster in 2009; others were small productions. Moreover, this film is very safe; the government wouldn’t give the film bureau officials any trouble.
dGenerate's Karin Chien Takes Home the Piaget Producers Prize at the Independent Spirit Awards
Yang Kun
It is with sadness that we report the passing of Yang Kun, a key curator of Yunfest (Yunnan Multi Culture Visual Festival, one of the key independent film festivals in China. Mr. Yang passed away from leukemia, which was diagnosed only recently.
We at dGenerate have benefitted from Mr. Yang’s fastidious promotion of Chinese independent films, as he and Yunfest helped bring many films to attention that are or will be part of our catalog. The following is a list of films in our catalog that were programmed at Yunfest, some of which made their debut there:
Before the Flood (Yunfest Competition ‘05)
Before the Flood 2: Gong Tan (Yunfest Competition ‘09)
Crime and Punishment (Yunfest Showcase ‘09)
Gai Shanxi and Her Sisters (Yunfest Competition ‘05)
Ghost Town (Yunfest Competition ‘09)
Meishi Street (Yunfest Participatory Visual Education ‘09)
We will forever remain grateful to Yang Kun and his efforts will not be forgotten.
In conjunction with MoMA’s Jia Zhangke retrospective, the director hosts a screening March 8 at 7pm of his Wo men de shi nian (Ten Years,2007) and Black Breakfast (2008), a segment from the international omnibus film Stories on Human Rights, as well as a sneak preview of an excerpt from his latest film, Shanghai Legend aka I Wish I Knew. Followed by a conversation between Jia Zhangke and Howard Feinstein, independent curator and critic; and Kevin B. Lee, critic, filmmaker, and programming executive, dGenerate Films.
Event details and ticket information found at MoMA.
This Friday we’ll be rooting for our own Karin Chien, as she contends for the coveted Piaget Producers Award for Outstanding Achievement by a Producer at the 25th Independent Spirit Awards (airing 3/5, 8pm PST, IFC).
Karin is up against two other accomplished producers, Larry Fessenden (I Sell the Dead) and Dia Sokol (Beeswax).
2009 was a banner year for Karin, as two of her productions, The Exploding Girl and Santa Mesa were feted on the festival circuit. She also travelled to Beirut and Haiti to produce two upcoming features, and curated the Chinatown Film Project, an inaugural film exhibition for the Museum of Chinese in America. All this on top of running dGenerate in its first full year of operation!
We have our fingers crossed for Karin, but needless to say, regardless of the outcome of the awards, her accomplishments in the past year speak for themselves.
