The Malaysian Insider

BEIJING, Oct 10 — A new era appears poised to replace the painful memory of the Cultural Revolution as China celebrates 60 years of communist rule: a cinematic renaissance is shaping up.

China made more than 400 movies last year, and box-office revenues have grown 25 per cent annually over the past five years.

Blockbusters, including “Hero”, have wowed critics and audiences alike the world over and helped cement the status of Chinese actors such as Jet Li, Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi as superstars.

That makes China one of the world's major film-producing countries, the State Administration of Film, Radio and Television said in a report this year. Critics at home and abroad are also impressed by the mass appeal of recent works such as the historical film, “Red Cliff”, directed by John Woo.

It is among a bumper crop of sophisticated films that rise far above the traditional “Red Movie” genre and have cast the spotlight on the country's state-driven film industry, analysts say. Movies that recount the history of modern China with an ideological slant are still known as “Red Movies”.

For instance, China's biggest-ever domestic hit, “The Founding Of A Republic”, has already taken in some 350 million yuan (RM170 million) in ticket sales since its debut last month. Of course, it helped that the film, produced by the state-owned China Film Group Corporation which is also the country's largest film studio, was helmed by China's top directors. Its cast included more than 170 established actors, such as Li, Zhang and Jackie Chan.

But other less star-studded movies such as “The Message” and “Tiananmen Square” have also drawn crowds. Despite their politically tinted depiction of modern China, such films have seen even the younger post-1979 generation of Chinese who grew up on Hollywood movies lining up for them.

Li Qingqing, a Beijing-based public relations manager in her mid-20s, thinks it is because these movies package their messages more stylishly than the old familiar hits like “Fight In Shanghai”, which marked China's war film industry in the 1950s.

“I have watched five of this year's Red Movies because they are well-filmed and about as entertaining as any Disney hit,” she said. “I don't feel like they are just preaching politics.”

The government “realises that film-making should be commercial while politics should be secondary”, said China expert Wang Zhengxu.

Local films make up about 60 per cent of the Chinese film market and are largely produced by the big four state-owned studios such as New Picture Company and Shanghai Film Group. The country's top film honours — the biennial Huabiao Awards — are controlled by the state.

But some small independent studios are now giving the Big Four a run for their money. Last year's “Painted Skin”, which took in US$29 million (RM96 million) in 19 days, was made by a small studio, Ningxia Film. Analysts also note a marked change in the government's attitude towards the role of the film industry compared to the 1960s. In those days, Mao Zedong's regime pushed the ideological role of movies, especially during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution which wiped out many artistic elements.

But the film industry started to experience a phase of reshaping and exploration in the 1980s and 1990s following market reform and the opening up of China, said Professor Hu Zhifeng of the Communication University of China.

At a panel discussion last month held by the China National Film Museum, he noted that local directors started to take a more critical view of Chinese history in internationally recognised works such as “Yellow Earth” and “Red Sorghum”.

But very few Chinese films showed a profit — until the turn of the 21st century when the government threw its weight and financial clout behind the industry's restructuring.

“The government is a major investor in film production, and it has supported the liberalisation of the sector as it wants these films to be widely seen... and to infuse national pride in China's artistic work,” said film studies assistant professor Stephen Teo of Nanyang Technological University.

Not only has this helped produce international blockbusters, but it has also attracted big-name Hong Kong directors such as John Woo, Gordon Chan and Peter Chan to Beijing, the country's cultural capital. Foreign studios are also rushing to China. Fox International Productions president Sanford Panitch recently called it “one of the most exciting markets in the world today”.

The renaissance in China's film industry comes as Beijing set out ambitious plans last week to build a global media empire. It will spend billions on media and entertainment companies that are more market-oriented and can face off against global giants like News Corporation and Time Warner.

This is just part of China's grand plan to export its soft power abroad, noted some analysts.

“It is quite evident that the recent blockbusters are indicators of China's soft power, they impress worldwide audiences... and show them what Chinese history is about,” said Teo.

It will take time, however, before the industry can match the stature of the American market, which has nine times the number of movie screens and 14 times the box-office earnings of China.

But Beijing is wasting no time. It will build tens of thousands of movie theatres across the country in the next few years. It is still trying to protect its domestic producers from foreign studios that are allowed to share profits on only 20 imported movies a year. But a recent World Trade Organisation ruling that China must ease restrictions on distribution of Hollywood movies and other Western media may well shake up the industry.

Competition over the next three to five years will be fierce, adding pressure to local studios to become even more commercial, according to communications academic Zhao Ningyu. This may fuel China's film industry further, say industry players.

Han Sanping, chairman of China Film Group, predicted at the Shanghai International Film Festival in June that the country's movie box office could exceed 100 billion yuan within 10 years.

“The best show is yet to come,” he said. — Straits Times