29.WFF: CHINA-EASTERN EUROPE FILM PROMOTION PROGRAMME

CHINA-EASTERN EUROPE FILM PROMOTION PROGRAMME

Last year, China produced 893 feature films, but only about 200 of them got released in their local cinemas. Chinese movies need to enter international markets to make it to the big screen. The China-Eastern Europe Film Promotion Programme, initiated last year at the 28th Warsaw Film Festival, takes an important step towards cooperation between Eastern Europe and China.

Et Hu at the 9th CentEast Market in Warsaw - fot. Bartek Trzeszkowski

       The founders of the project – Stefan Laudyn, representative of the Warsaw Film Foundation and the director of the Warsaw Film Festival, and Et Hu, the creator of the Chinese Film Factory (the first social media website for Chinese filmmakers) – perceive it as a mutually beneficial exchange. As explained by Laudyn: "On the one hand our aim is to promote Chinese cinema internationally – in Eastern Europe and elsewhere. That is why, during the CentEast Market in Warsaw we are going to have a presentation of completed films and works-in-progress from China for international sales agents and festival programmers. On the other hand, in April, we are planning to organize an Eastern European presentation in China, at the Beijing Film Market."

        Only 63 foreign movies were released in China last year. Interestingly, they took 43% of the box office. Chinese film market promises substantial profits for the non-Chinese filmmakers. However, there is a problem: "China is a country with strong central government, which protects its market," explains Laudyn. "There is a quota system – only a limited number of films per year get permission to enter the market. Also every distributed film has to be approved by the State Authority of Radio, Film & Television (SARFT)."

        One of the ways of surpassing the quota system is making an international co-production. "Making co-productions with China is a good way to enter the Chinese market," says Laudyn. Unfortunately, "in the recent years, there has been only one Polish-Chinese feature film co-production: Lovers from the Year of the Tiger, directed by Jacek Bromski." 

Stefan Laudyn at the 9th CentEast Market in Warsaw - fot. Bartek Trzeszkowski

       American blockbusters dominate the Chinese box office, leaving a very limited space for the small-budget films from other countries. The more limited the market, the harder it is to sell a foreign movie to China. "Eastern Europeans don't have the resources like the Americans, the French, the British or the Germans," says Laudyn, "but I believe we are culturally closer to the Chinese". According to both Laudyn and Hu, because of the history of their respective political systems, China feels some kind of cultural kinship with the former countries of the Soviet Union.

        It is estimated that in the next five years the Chinese film market will become the largest in the world. That is why, Laudyn quips, everyone "tries hard to get a piece of the Chinese pie." Hopefully, the still-developing China-Eastern Europe Film Promotion Programme proves to be fruitful in the future – both in artistic and business terms.    

 Kamil Chrzczonowicz