Sci-fi Film Week | New Chinese Sci-fi Films on the Horizon

On June 17, the 26th Shanghai International Film Festival’s Sci-fi Film Week was launched in Songjiang District. At the “Future Engine: Sci-fi Literature IP/ Project Promotion and Shanghai Hi-tech Films and Televisions City Press Conference”, many highly anticipated sci-fi film and literature IPs announced their latest developments. Shanghai Hi-tech Films and Televisions City also unveiled a series of innovative projects such as the “AI Creation Ecological Center”.

6 Sci-fi films unveiled

This promotion event highlighted numerous sci-fi film projects in preparation or soon to be released. DECISIVE MOMENT, a sci-fi action film directed by Zhang Disha, tells an adventure story set in a future space-time where astronauts face complex situations during a return mission. Zhang Disha mentioned, “Through visually stunning special effects scenes, this film will create a tense future space world, showcasing the struggle and redemption of human nature amidst crisis.”

Based on Liu Cixin’s novel, sci-fi mystery series SEA OF DREAMS is directed by Tian Li. It depicts a story where all surface waters on future Earth suddenly rise into space, forming an ice ring encircling the planet, throwing human beings into an unprecedented survival crisis.

As a world premiere at this year’s Shanghai International Film Festival, the Sino-French co-production sci-fi film VALENSOLE is based on real historical events, specifically the famous French close encounter of the third kind event.

Adapted from 8 sci-fi short stories by Wang Jinkang - DOUBLE HELIX: WANG JINKANG SHORT FILM COLLECTION and director Qiu Sheng’s feature film MY FATHER’S SON, the youthful fantasy film IT’S DANGEROUS OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM produced by Sun Ruoxi, written by Yang Yiming and Fan Lingbing, all made appearance at the event.

6 Sci-fi literature IPs to be incubated

The flourishing development of Chinese sci-fi films relies heavily on excellent sci-fi literary works. This event specifically invited the original authors of 6 highly adaptable sci-fi literature IPs, alongside outstanding filmmakers, for a joint promotion.

Zhang Ran’s new work STILL WATER explores themes of humanity, family, and technology. The story revolves around a scriptwriter mother and her son with ALS, who experiment with a speculative technology called “Still Water”, rendering deep-seated memories to let patients experience life while in sleep. Producer Wang Hongwei believes this work is well-suited for adaptation into film: “It explores human reflection on the value of life, rationality, and emotion, offering rich potential for visual storytelling.”

Ren Qing's sci-fi mystery TO THE NORTH is characterized by its northeastern gritty visual style. This novel weaves a sci-fi mystery tale, intertwining emotions and lies, with imaginative settings for the consciousness boundary. Ren Qing expressed, “I look forward to seeing it adapted into a film or television series soon.”

Yang Wanching’s WAVES OF WHEAT tells a story about survival space in a unique narrative style. By describing environmental disasters caused by temperature changes and human migration, it portrays a story about survival space. This work not only vividly depicts its plot but also illustrates the greatness of scientific and natural forces in seemingly simple languages.

In addition, highly anticipated sci-fi literary masterpieces such as Xie Yuning’s THROUGH THE SATURN RING, Kong Xinwei’s WHEN LOVE BECOMES AN EPIDEMIC and He Xi’s YIYU were also recommended on-site.

Film and television industry chain empowered by key projects

As the first project of Shanghai to build a global film and television creation center, Shanghai Hi-tech Films and Televisions City has been providing more vivid practices for the “Shanghai sample” of film industrialization and film modernization.

At the promotion event, the two major projects of “AI Creation Ecological Center” and “Shanghai Hi Production One-Stop Service Platform” were launched. The projects were jointly initiated by Songjiang District People’s Government and Shanghai Film Group, which will build a one-stop service platform for film and television production, and create a base of intelligent calculation center based on Shanghai’s local calculation and cloud network. In the future, it will also introduce cutting-edge technologies such as virtual shooting and AIGC content generation, and conduct in-depth linkage with Shanghai Film Shooting Base to create a highly commercialized and technologically pioneering film and television industry center for the AI era.

China Digital (Shanghai) Technology Development Co., Ltd. has promoted the “Film Copyright City Reception Room” online platform project. The platform has functions such as guiding and assisting enterprises in registering software and work copyrights, copyright knowledge publicity and training, copyright dispute resolution, diversified copyright achievements display, and copyright trading, providing normalized copyright services for film and television companies stationed in Shanghai Hi-tech Films and Televisions City.

COO Zhou Ling of the Film and Television Trusted Digital Person Certification Platform also promoted the “Trusted Digital Person Certification and Management Platform” project, which is based on blockchain and distributed digital identity technology, to promote the research and application of digital human technology

The Shanghai Hi-tech Films and Televisions City Short Film Export Research Center project also made a fresh debut. Co-initiated by multiple entities, the center aims to create a spiritual home for short film enthusiasts, creators, and disseminators across borders, fostering creative inspiration and incubating innovative works.

Also highlighted was the “Short Cat” intelligent promotion platform, a comprehensive service platform integrating policy releases, industry information release, data analysis, market forecasting, copyright transactions, cultural exports, and interactive exchanges. Leveraging advanced smart algorithms and big data technology, the platform will provide comprehensive and multi-perspective information services to short film producers, distributors, investors, and audiences.

Since last June, Shanghai International Film Festival has, under the theme of science fiction, convened sci-fi filmmakers to discuss the latest developments in the genre at the Sci-fi Film Theme Forum. In the “Future Engine: Annual Outlook” session, the focus was on exploring and envisioning the future of Chinese sci-fi cinema. This year, the Sci-fi Film Week not only forecasted future trends but also comprehensively promoted and showcased excellent sci-fi literary IPs and film projects. The aim is to drive and facilitate the transformation of outstanding sci-fi IPs, promote high-quality sci-fi film and television projects in development, and provide a better platform for collaboration between sci-fi writers and filmmakers.