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On the afternoon of June 12, the Belt and Road Film Culture Roundtable Talk was held at the Shanghai International Film Festival (赌博app). On the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the Belt and Road Film Festival Alliance, representatives of the Alliance’s member institutions, guests from the international industry and Chinese and foreign filmmakers gathered in Shanghai to talk about film exchange and cooperation based on the Belt and Road initiative. In a roundtable session titled “International Communication of Local Stories”, new generation Chinese and foreign filmmakers such as Boon-lip Quah, Wang Lina and Wu Lang shared the stage with foreign filmmakers to discuss “how to represent local stories in an international context”.
Genre films are more acclaimed among audiences
In the five years since the establishment of the Belt and Road Film Festival Alliance, a large number of films from countries where member institutions are based have reached audiences in other countries through the touring mechanism; a cross-cultural bridge has been built as films from various countries are being recognized by a growing number of audiences on the international stage. The film CAFARNAÚM, which was screened at the Belt and Road Film Week, has struck a chord with audiences because of its focus on the underprivileged. The Chinese film A FIRST FAREWELL, which went on tour, has become an excellent example of cross-cultural communication by bringing vivid childhood stories back to the screen.
It is not easy for a local story to enter the overseas market and be quickly accepted by overseas audiences. Malaysian director Boon-lip Quah, who wowed audiences with his crime thriller SHEEP WITHOUT A SHEPHERD, is also bringing his new film A PLACE CALLED SILENCE to this year’s 赌博app for screening. Boon-lip Quah has long been specialized in making genres such as suspense, thriller and crime, which, as he believes, are more acclaimed among audiences in most countries, and “during export of our local content, they are more in tune with the audience.” Boon-lip Quah hopes to tell good stories to more audiences, and he does so by “taking genre to the extreme”. For cross-cultural audiences, some stories from other countries are distant from their real life, “but it's actually easy for them to understand step by step; through a film language, they will easily get to know what happened in a certain place, just like reading books.” Boon-lip Quah said.
Director
Boon-lip Quah
Be it A FIRST FAREWELL, which debuted at the Belt and Road Film Week, or the new film VILLAGE MUSIC , director Wang Lina’s works are poetic in style and therefore resonate with foreign audiences. As for international distribution of local stories, Wang Lina hopes to see a variety of films in the same tone. She said: “I look forward to encountering real individual experiences, and experiences shared by human beings.”
Director
Wang Lina
ABSENCE directed by the new-generation director Wu Lang became the opening film of this year’s Belt and Road Film Week. The film trains its lens on a pair of former lovers who are in trouble in buying a house. For the international distribution of local stories, genre is not his primary concern, and he pays more attention to his inner feelings. “I will spend a lot of time researching how to hit you and warm you, and present this feeling through storytelling,” Wu Lang said.
Director
Wu Lang
Common themes to resonate with the audience
Kamila Andini, a female director from Indonesia, is a maverick, making four films without using her native language. “No matter what language a film is in, the audience is actually able to empathize with it. Dialects stand for the diversity of films and it’s easy to build an emotional bond between the audience and the local story.”
Director
Kamila Andini
For what is the best way to tell a story to international audiences, Roberto Stabile, head of special projects of the directorate general for cinema and audiovisual of the Ministry of Culture (DGCA-MiC), believes that there is no “magic wand”, but “it is possible to spark resonance among audiences from different cultural backgrounds with localized storytelling that spans common concerns, common history, etc.”
Head of special projects of the directorate general for cinema and audiovisual of
the Ministry of Culture (DGCA-MiC)
Roberto Stabile
Whether it’s for Chinese films to go global or for foreign films to be release at the Belt and Road Film Week, 赌博app has offered a great stage for new filmmakers to showcase their works. But for Armin Hadzic, Head of Operations and New Business at the Sarajevo Film Festival, it doesn’t matter where a film is screened, since it has to be a good film first. “From a festival operation point of view, there is no standard answer on how to select films. We hope to select films that are novel, including works by new generation directors, to bring a refreshing feel to the audience and allow them to better understand the trends of the film industry.”
Head of Operations and New Business at the Sarajevo Film Festival
Armin Hadzic
Technology is a “double-edged sword” for storytelling
In the more than 100 years since the birth of cinema, every change has been inseparable from technological advances. From silent to sound, from black and white to color, from film to digital, the iterative renewal of technology has left the film industry facing huge challenges. In the Internet era, when smartphones and short videos have become the mainstream means of communication, audiences’ viewing habits are rapidly changing.
New technology has brought about a disruptive movie-going experience, filmmaking is set to become easier with the aid of technology, and technical barriers have been cleared for the international communication of local stories, but technological advances also pose a huge challenge for film creators. “How can we get audiences to buy tickets to see a film when everyone is viewing short videos?” Director Boon-lip Quah said, “You have to keep breaking through in your work, with new content and new genre, and that’s a challenge worthy of all filmmakers.” For her part, Lina Wang said, “Diverse expressions are a particularly good thing, but we ultimately have to explore the human spirit, and that’s what I'm most concerned about.”
Director Wu Long sees new technology as a “double-edged sword”: “From the perspective of cinema, it means a lot of new possibilities; from the perspective of production and audience, it offers a totally different audio-visual experience.” He believes that an “addiction” to new technologies may blur the border between fiction and reality. If these technologies are not employed in a harnessed way, there is also the risk of a regression in filmmaking techniques.