Beijing International Film Festival

With China being the second largest film market in the world, after it surpassed Japan not too long ago, the Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF) has gained prominence as an important festival for filmmakers. The BJIFF first began in 2011 and has attracted over ten thousand invited guests and millions of attendees. It aims to promote the development of China’s film industry and encourage exchange, trade and collaboration in film with foreign film industries. 

The BJIFF attracts millions of attendees annually, with a selection of over 100 different activities to choose from across the duration of the festival. This year’s BJIFF also attracted a total of 800 Chinese and international film companies and organizations as well as more than 3,000 invited guests. Some of the celebrated guests in this year’s BJIFF include Chris Dodd, Alfonso Cuaron, Oliver Stone, "Frozen" producer Peter Del Vecho and John Woo.

Film festivals, such as the BJIFF, are rapidly becoming more than just an avenue for both domestic and international filmmakers to showcase their talents. Like all film festivals, it allows film fans and cinephiles to enjoy world cinema on the big screen. Many of the festival-goers will be able to see the classics of Chinese and international cinema on the big screen for the first time – a whole new experience when compared to the scratchy prints or VHS copies on which they watched these films previously. Audiences can see  "Toy Story 3," "Planes," "Wall.E" and a selection of Pixar shorts. An industry panel on animation will also be part of a series of guest speakers.  

Tiantan Award for Best Actress of the 4th BJIFF: Zhang Ziyi 

Fan Bingbing: China's No.1 Celebrity

What’s special about the BJIFF is that it provides a platform for Chinese directors to seek financial investment for the production of their films. This year’s BJIFF has already embraced around 3 billion yuan in contracts signed. This figure tops the amount of funds contracted in all film festivals and related exhibitions ever held in China. Furthermore, the 4^th BJIFF (2014) sees a newly established platform for the exchange of hi-tech film technology with many companies attending to showcase their most advanced products to industry insiders.

Perhaps what has triggered this large amount of interest is the growing importance of the Chinese film industry on the global market. The BJIFF shows China’s willingness to embrace the foreign film industry, though it still provides protection to its domestic industry. With an annual foreign film quota of just 34 foreign films, this makes life difficult for foreign directors to tap into the market.

If they want to have their films shown in China, they would have to produce films that can pass censors or sign co-production deals with Chinese studios and production companies. For example, there is a growing interaction between the British and Chinese film industries with Britain recently signing deals for the two industries to collaborate. Also, this year’s BJIFF would be the first time Britain has taken part in the festival, with more than 10 British films featuring in the program.

The impact of such a film festival is much greater than what I had initially thought and it will be interesting to see how important it becomes in the future, given that China’s film market is tipped to surpass the United States in the not-too-distant future.

References

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/beijing-film-festival-flexes-international-696764
http://www.bjiff.com/20140219/n395302740.shtml
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/beijing-film-festival-brings-hollywood-695870
http://www.chinatopix.com/articles/1774/20140415/4th-beijing-international-film-festival-set-break.htm
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/moviesnow/la-et-mn-beijing-film-festival-opens-20140416,0,1801062.story#ixzz30qhfFX7y