The Fifth Shanghai International Film Festival was not only a feast for
movie-goers but also turned out to be a huge gathering for Chinese movie
enthusiasts to talk about the Chinese film business.
The nine-day film festival, which ended on Sunday, drew many domestic and
international film-makers, stars and critics. An audience of 17,000 flocked
daily to cinemas in China's most international metropolis. At discussion in
and outside cinemas, critics and audience blame an increasing competitive
entertainment market, poor production quality and monopolized distribution
channels for losing appeal of most Chinese films. The Chinese film industry
enjoyed its best days during the past few decades but has suffered hugely in
recent years. Today, people enjoy much more freedom in choosing the way they
spend their leisure time. Films are no longer the major pastime for Chinese
people to kill their time. But rather, it is TV programmes that dominate their
leisure hours. No wonder that movie audiences have been shrinking; box office
revenues, especially those of home-grown low budget films, have gone down in
recent years. Bad film quality, unsatisfactory services in movie theatres and
rampant film piracy on Video Compact Disc and Digital Video Disc also keep
people from going to the cinema. Some think the biggest problem of the Chinese
film industry is not competition from other forms of entertainment or overseas
box office hits but their poor quality due to various reasons.
In this Internet era, some Chinese film directors still cling to the old tricks
of film-making they learnt ages ago. They ignore the changing tastes of newer
generations of audiences who are more emotionally attached to the small screen
of the TV and personal computer than the big screen at movie theatres. They
have beautifully packaged soap operas and music videos with cute, flashy teen
icons to watch and look up to on the tube; and they find much more fun playing
electronic games and surfing the Internet than sitting through a boring film
in an uncomfortably furnished, poorly equipped cinema. But, there are signs that
the government has been stepping up efforts over the past few years to crack
down on copyright infringement. And measures have been taken to strengthen
intellectual property rights legislation and law enforcement. Some young,
talented filmmakers are bringing out films, though in a limited number, with
novel shooting approaches and more intriguing storytelling devices. With this,
they are trying to draw Chinese movie buffs back to theatres. To boost the
development of the Chinese film industry, the government should take more
effective measures in breaking up the monopolies in the film import, film
distribution and film screening sectors.