Based in Asia Boost Chinese Films and Foster New Talents

"Chinese films have gone through the stages of pleasing the West and getting large capital infusion." Hu Jinjun said.

A few days ago, Hu Jinjun met an old friend, and the two discussed the value of film and TV content. His friend said: "To produce good content and extend the platforms will lead to significant value." Hu Jinjun agrees: “The extension of a show is the show\'s tour, while films could be extended to games, animation, and offline products and the variety show could be replicated and become a profitable model.”

What kind of value does Shanghai International Film Festival want to achieve? Its positioning is very clear   “Based in Asia, Boost Chinese Films, and Foster new talents.” Such a positioning is a more realistic and practical one than the slogan of “Host a world-class film festival.”

Why should it be “based in Asia”? Film and television have been booming in Asia in recent years. South Korea is a prime example, with the full blooming of television, films, musicals, animation and games as well as variety shows that are worth learning from. In the Asia-Pacific region, New Zealand and Thailand have become the base for the post-production of films all over the world and have been recognized by the world\'s largest film companies. West Central Asian countries, represented by Iran, have also produced some fine movies that received major awards on the world stage. For Chinese movies, the key is to rise up in Asia, guided by Eastern values, and then to go global.

"Chinese films have gone through the stages of pleasing the West and getting large capital infusion," Hu Jinjun said. "Now we need to really go back to the proper original state. In my opinion, this is the year when China’s filmmaking starts to transform itself. The stage of the fifth generation directors, big productions, and international award-winning is ended. In the future, we need to focus on the films made by, and for, the grass-roots, as well as those invested jointly by the public. These have been booming rapidly in China\'s film market.”

Recently, Alibaba launched “Entertainment Treasure” to fuel the Chinese film market. Hu Jinjun commented, “Why was Ma Yun not interested in films three years ago? Why was this not laid out a year ago? It is the sensitivity of capital. This year, represented by Ma Yun, the social capital and the Internet started to show strong interest in films and entertainment shows. Such is the sensitivity of capital!”
On the question “why help to boost Chinese movies?” Hu explained his aims. “I do hope that the SIFF will become the platform for all Chinese movies, directors, filmmakers, investors, actors and post film producers to display their talents. Each year, we can see through SIFF the improvement of Chinese film strength.”

As for the question “why support new talents?", the goal of the SIFF “Youth Director Program,” Hu replied that next year’s SIFF will see the participation of online writers in the SIFF forums. Therefore, a platform for conversation will be established between online writers and film producers which will further guarantee the success of online work film adaptation.