13th SIFF SIFFORUM

The SIFFORUM of the 13th Shanghai International Film Festival were took place from June 13 to 18, 2010. Taking “Chinese Approaches Global Value” as its theme, the SIFFORUM will consist of 9 seminars in 4 sections, including “President Lecture”, “Industry Summit”, “Film Roundtable” and “Master Class”, in the hope of presenting a platform for the international industry to exchange ideas, and providing a guideline to the development of this industry.

Part I: President Lecture:

What Other Films Do We Need?
Time: 10:00-12:00, June 17，2010
Venue: Jin Jue Ballroom, Crowne Plaza Hotel
Brief:
Year 2010 is witnessing radical changes in regard with Chinese film production and investment, with 3D technology creating a hyper of the industry, and hot money challenging the creative resources. As financial and creative resources flood in big films, the marketplace is swamped by blockbuster manic, can we still expect genuine quality films in this superficial boom?
What else can we do besides blockbusters? This issue exists not only in China or Asia, but also in the rest of the world. Are big films predestined to be good films? Is big budget predestined to achieve big box offices? Are big films stereotyped in subject, genre, style, production modes? Is there any possibility for low-budget films to create miracles in box office receipts? Is blockbuster the only goal to achieve or only way to express for filmmakers? Does blockbuster make movie goers to go to cinema less frequently? Does a theatre only need summer and New Year holidays for revenues?
Well then, what other films do we need besides blockbusters? What films do we want to make above and beyond blockbusters? Is it possible for a low budget film to achieve originality by director\'s distinctive creation? Can an arty film be made with commercial approaches? John Woo, Jury President of this year\'s SIFF, together with a group of established directors, will discuss this issue and share their viewpoints with us.

Leading Panelist: John Woo, Director, Jury President of 13th SIFF

Guest Panelist：WANG Xiaoshuai, Director
PENG Haoxiang, Director
Doze NIU, Director

Part II: Industry Summit:

Industry Summit I. New Front for Industry Collaboration Between China and Hollywood
Time: 9:30-12:30, June 13, 2010
Venue: Jin Jue Ballroom of Crowne Plaza Hotel, Shanghai
Brief :
It has been over decade long since Chinese film industry started to work with Hollywood, and the two parties have been competing as well as collaborating with each other all along. The 2008 financial crisis rising from Wall Street has not only changed the global economic order but also the relationship between Hollywood and the rest of the world, particularly China. On one hand, after 2012 and AVATAR, Chinese market has become one of the major marketplaces of the world; on the other hand, more and more Chinese filmmakers have started to be skeptical about the collaboration with overseas partners due to a few China-made hits’ success in local market. Facing this era of post-financial crisis, what are we going to do with Hollywood? How will the growing co-productions with Hollywood affect the Chinese industry chain? What will be the result for Chinese filmmakers, from time to time, to get Hollywood on board for co-productions aimed for world market? Are there any difficulties in relation to actual operations? This session will invite major players from both industries to brainstorm about this key partnership for future world cinema.

Moderators: Hugo Shong, Executive Vice President of International Data

Group; Founding General Partner of IDG Technology Venture Investment (IDGVC)

HE Ping, Director, Producer

Panelists: Robert PISANO, CEO, Motion Picture Association
                Harvery WEINSTEIN, Producer, co-founder of Miramax
                Jim BREYER, Partner of Accel
                HAN Sanping, Chairman, China Film Group Corporation
                REN Zhonglun, Chairman, Shanghai Film Group Corporation
                FENG Xiaogang, Director
                Richard GELFOND, President of IMAX
                HUANG Jianxin, Chairman, Chinese Film Directors\' Guild
                Jason REED, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Walt Disney Studios International Productions
                YU Dong, President, Bona International Film Group, President,  Beijing PolyBona Film Distribution Co., Ltd.

Host：Shanghai International Film Festival Organizer Committee

Industry Summit II. New Orientation of Chinese Film: Made in China by Young Chinese Directors
Time: 9:30- 12:30, June 14, 2010
Venue: 1F,Western Hall No.2, Shanghai Exhibition Center
Brief :
With the growth of Chinese film market and box office receipts, the many investors and production companies are pouring money into big films. However, a sound film market will allow films of different budget to perform together, and, young filmmakers are usually the major force to meet the two ends between low-budgets and blockbusters. Then, how can the young filmmakers keep the balance between creativity and commercialization to achieve market share? Will any financiers and marketplace provide such a room between the two ends for the young filmmakers? Will the young group be able to meet the challenges brought by capital and market? And, how should the industry protect the content originality and the growth of young directors? This session will gather top-level professionals from Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan to discuss the relationship between industry and young filmmakers, capital and creativity, in the hope of finding a better path for the young generation, and a new orientation for the country’s film industry.

Moderator: HE Ping, Director

Panelists:Bill KONG, President, Investor of Irresistible Films,Hong Kong Ediko Films Corporation Ltd.
                ZHAO Haicheng, Assistant President, China Film Group Corporation; President, China Film Group Corporation Production Corporation.
                FANG Jun, President of the Eastern Shanghai International Culture Film & Television Group；Vice Chairman of the Shanghai TV Artists Association
                ZHUO Shunguo, President, LETV Pictures Company, LTD,General Manager, Zhejiang LETV Zhenwei Film Production Co, Ltd
                Leon DAI, Director
                Fruit CHAN, Director, Producer
                Lieh LEE , Actress, Producer
                SHENG Zhimin, Director
                LI Weiran, Director

Industry Summit III. 3D the Magic Stick to Integrate Animation and Live Action
Time: 14:00- 16:30, June 15, 2010
Venue: 1F,Western Hall No.2, Shanghai Exhibition Center
Brief:
AVATAR may have changed the history of world cinema. Before AVATAR, cinema was about content and concept which presents and satisfies human desire alongside with evolution of cinematic language. After AVATAR, cinema has shown us a brand new world facilitated with 3D technologies and the many possibilities for industry improvement, creativity enhancement, combination of different entertainment modes, and even financing patterns. This session will look at the impact of 3D technologies originated from Hollywood on Chinese cinema and what the new technology trend can really do to Chinese cinema after this 3D hyper. Subjects include “How to balance technology and creativity, how to meet the challenges, how to train the young filmmakers, and what vision we can have for the future of Chinese cinema.”

Moderator: HE Ping, Director

Panelists: KANG Je-Gyu, Director,Korea
                 PANG Ho-Cheung, Director
                 TONI Myers, Director，Producer
                 Paul OTTOSON, Producer，co-founder,Venture 3D and Hyper Emotive Films
                 Dean YURKE, Digital Artist, Industrial Light & Magic
                 Eric EDMEADES, CEO of The Kerner Group
                 LU Shengzhang, Director, Professor
                 HU Bo, Producer, Shanghai Miracle Pictures

Part III: Film Round Table

Film Round Table I. New Media Channels for Film Distribution
Time: 9:30-12:00, June 15, 2010
Venue: 1F,Western Hall No.2, Shanghai Exhibition Center
Brief:
Webcasts and videos on portable devices are believed to overshadow television and even cinema soon. People may say that new media contents have taken audiences away from big screens. Well, we might take this issue in positive way: thanks to the easy access of new media, the big screen audiences are able to obtain more information about cinema and films get better promotion and more distribution channels. New media will possibly become a way for non-theatrical cinema to survive. How can cinema go with new media from confrontation to mutual reliance and eventually mutual benefit? Is there any possibility for non-theatrical cinema and new media to achieve a brand-new pattern of mutual expansion?

Moderator: Leon GAO, Executive Vice President of EntGroup
Yugo YOSHIDA, Director, JETRO Shanghai

Panelists:DENG Ye, Vice President，Sohu Videos
                ZHANG He, President, JOY.CN Co., Ltd
                MA Zhongjun, Chairman, Ciwen Media Group
                Susumu TSUKAMOTO, CO-CEO, Kadokawa Intercontinental Group Holdings Ltd
                Masafumi MOCHIZUKI, Senior Managing Director, NHK Enterprises, Inc.
                SHIIKI Ryuta, President, Executive Producer, DLE Inc.

Host：Shanghai International Film Festival Organizing Committee
Executive：Japan External Trade Organization
                   Japan International Contents Festival
                    Sohu Video
                    Shanghai Media Events Co., Ltd

Film Roundtable II. Cinema as Medium—-Marketing Strategies of Product Placement
Time: 14:00-16:30, June 16, 2010
Venue: 1F,Western Hall No.2, Shanghai Exhibition Center
Brief:
Though product placement has been a common practice in Chinese cinema, featuring various patterns and strategies, it is still at the initial stage for the industry to integrate different marketing channels, and there are fatal flaws behind the seemingly mutual benefit brought by product placement. The many placement slip-ups have obviously produced negative effect to reviews and box offices of related films; furthermore, the muddling pricing and performance of product placement have also held up the growth of the business. At the opening year of the golden decade of Chinese film industry, people who are able to dominate the integration of marketing resources will surely possess a bigger portion of market share. The key to achieve the goals is to obtain a broader platform and a wider range of brand resources, and integrate brand DNA into the story. This session is designed for CFPC participants and integration marketing professionals to meet up and explore more potentialities for cooperation.

Moderator: XIANG Min, Vice President, Mtime

Panelists: JIANG Defu, General Manager, China Film Group Marketing Corporation
                 MO Kangsun, Vice President, McCann Erickson ,China
                 XIANG Min, Vice President, Mtime
                 LIU Siru, President, FilmWorks Entertainment Marketing
                 Linda CHIU, Producer, Vice President of IFDC Inc.
                 WANG Yifei, founder of Herun Media
                 WANG Tao, Managing Director, 180EM.COM
                 William HONG, Director of branded content area, Zenith
                 Arthur HUANG, Brand Director, Unilever

Part IV: Master Class

Master Class I. Present Creative Ideas to Investors
Time: 13:30 -17:30, June 13, 2010
Venue: Jin Jue Ballroom II, Crowne Plaza Hotel
Brief:
This year\'s Master Class will be divided into two sessions. The first session will invite industry veterans to give instructions on creative process and approaches of presenting ideas and catching potential investors. The second will be a pitch-and-catch training session for CFPC projects.

A complete idea or script comes from brainstorms. This session is aimed to give instructions on how a director teams up with a producer and how they bring out the best creativity by coordinating all creative elements and finally give the best presentation to potential investors.

Panelists：
Jason Reed, Executive VP and General Manager, Walt Disney Studios International Productions
Michael Andreen, SVP, International Production Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production

Master Class II. Script, the Cornerstone of a Film
Time: 10：00-12：00, June 16, 2010
Venue: 1F,Western Hall No.2, Shanghai Exhibition Center
Brief:
Script is the cornerstone of a film. Different film systems vary in creative processes, but they require same good scripts, and the significance of a script to a film remains the very same. Well then, what does a good script look like? What is a good script which can be made a good film? How does a director choose a script and create the value of the script? How does a writer leave enough room for the director to realize creativeness? What are the differences in script creation with regard to commercial film system and independent film system? What originality can be brought out by such differences? This session will have two extremely different creators with their own styles to look at script creation in the process of film industry from the perspective of the two creative systems, and give their advices for young talents to follow.

Panelists:
Amos Gitai, Israeli director
Douglas Short, American screenwriter

Master Class III. Make Your Own Films
Time: 10:30-12:00, June 18, 2010
Venue: Jin Jue Ballroom II, Crowne Plaza Hotel
Brief:
Being the soul of a film, director represents the creativity of the film. Leos Carax, a director of his own style, has been influencing many people with his heretical story-telling and sharp film images. If camera is a pen for average writer-directors, then for Carax it is the totem of life. He likes to stay behind the lens and indulge his emotional outlet through the camera. For this reason, he is likely to lavish huge amount of a budget. Yet, in the current industry situation, how can a director keep going with his creative passion? Does a director of genius have to share everything with the public? How does a director make a distinction between reality in film and reality in life? How does a director collaborate with producers and actors? Carax, the director of genius, will share his creative experiences and cinematic life with the young filmmakers.

Panelist:
Leos Carax, French director
Jean-Michel Frodon, Journalist, Film Critic, writer, professor