Growing Pains for China’s Booming Film Industry

The cover of this month’s Sanlian Life Week reads: “3,527 screens worth 5.1 billion RMB, China Cinema Recovers Lost Ground.” With growing flexibility on content and a growing base of moviegoers, annual revenue for domestic films has been increasing 25% for the past five years. However, Danwei.org’s translation of interviews from directors and industry professionals reveals disagreement on the quality and future of cinema in China.

Among the interviewees is Jiang Wei, general manager of EDKO Film Distribution, who straightforwardly states, “the vast majority of movies should not be filmed.” As opposed to the disciplined, producer-centered Hollywood where responsibilities are carefully planned, Wei points to the concentration of power as a problem for Chinese cinema’s development. Wei explains:

Over here, writing and production is director-centered, to the point that the screenwriter, director, and producer are sometimes a single person. You cannot deny that some individuals may be all-around geniuses, but this speaks to the fact that things are not professional and detailed enough. For us, film production is stuck at a relatively early stage; for true commercial-oriented operation, we must break the director-centered system. If we wish to move in the direction of the market, then we need to give support to all areas of professional experience, and this is not doable if we rely solely on the ideas and abilities of a single individual.

Danwei: Boom times for Chinese film, but what comes next?