The astonishing growth in the number of screens in China lays the foundation for the diversification of film screening

From not seeing it, to seeing what you want to see, and then to seeing what you want to see, government departments, relevant institutions and enterprises have joined forces to work steadily step by step, and are bringing the dream of focusing on film screening into reality.

Original title: Film diversification: From invisible to what you like to see,

various screenings of the International Film Festival every year allow audiences to see many classic films and special films that were not previously visible to commercial theaters. But while people shout that they are hooked, they always ask, what should we do if we want to watch this kind of movie? Many college students deeply feel this. As movie enthusiasts, they not only like the exciting excitement of commercial blockbusters, but also like the innovative lens language of art films and the profound ideological connotation of documentaries. However, this kind of literary enthusiasm is often caused by non-commercial films that have too little or even no chance of screening in commercial theaters. The reality poured cold water.

Director Chen Gang once admitted that for some time, China's film distribution and screening system has been relatively single, mainly in commercial theaters. In order to maximize economic benefits, most of the films screened by most cinemas are commercial films with star lineups and topic effects, which inevitably leads to problems of homogenization. However, the audience's preferences are diverse. Only by presenting a "Manchu and Han banquet" can we meet the segmented needs of different groups of people. Asymmetric supply and demand will lead to the embarrassing situation where people can't see the movies they want to watch, and some movies are released but no one cares. Therefore, it is imperative to establish a differentiated and focused screening system.

Although the rise of video websites has made watching movies more convenient, there are still quite a few literary and art enthusiasts who are in awe of the art of film like the sense of ceremony and happiness that can only be obtained in dark screening halls. In order to enjoy the happy time of being bathed in light and shadow and surrounded by stereo sound under the big screen, some students spend a lot of time outside school. There are few specialized art theaters in Beijing, mainly including the China Film Archive, which conducts activities through academic screening, and the Beijing Contemporary MOMA Broadway Film Center, which adopts commercial operation. The "spark" has not formed a "prairie fire" trend. Even so, movie lovers in Beijing are already happy. Other places may not even have a theater to show art films.

What is gratifying is that this problem of difficulty in viewing movies and few choices has improved in recent years. In October 2016, the National Art Film Screening Alliance, jointly initiated by China Film Archive and six units, was established in Changchun. In November, the alliance announced the layout of 100 art cinemas and eight major exhibition themes. The first batch of cinemas collected are distributed in more than 50 cities in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across the country. They broke through the narrow sense of art films in their selection of films, focusing more on international award-winning new works, Chinese and foreign film history classics, and genre films with certain artistic breakthroughs or high artistic quality, setting off a nationwide A movie craze brings convenience to movie viewing. In March this year, the first domestic art film "August" released by the alliance received support from theaters, and the schedule was much more, and it was no longer limited to non-prime hours such as the morning.

In addition, the effectiveness of some measures and achievements that will have a positive impact on people's viewing of movies will take time to slowly ferment. For example, at the end of 2016, good news came in the field of theater construction. The total number of screens nationwide reached 40917, surpassing the United States and ranking first in the world, laying a solid hardware foundation for the diversification of film screening. In addition to art theaters, rural film screenings, campus theaters, and even blind cinemas and on-demand cinemas are also actively deployed. In May this year, as the main operator of the "National Campus Cinema Line" jointly promoted by the Ministry of Education and the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, China Education Huaying Cinema Line Co., Ltd. was established in Beijing, striving to nourish the hearts of students with excellent domestic films. There are various signs that from invisible to viewing what they show, to viewing what they like to see, government departments, relevant institutions and enterprises have joined forces to work steadily step by step, bringing the dream of focusing on film screening into reality.

Editor: Xiongwei