Increase the quota for mainland films entering Taiwan? Industry: More symbolism

Increase the quota for mainland films entering Taiwan? The industry said it was more symbolic. On November 10, Taiwan revised the "Film Law" to expand the release of mainland films in Taiwan just to look beautiful.

For many years, Taiwan has implemented a quota system for mainland films. Through lottery, only ten mainland films can be distributed in Taiwan every year. However, recently, Taiwan has partially revised the "Film Law", stipulating that in the future, mainland films that win any competitive awards at the Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival and the American Academy Awards, or win the Best Drama Film and Best Director Award at the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards will not be subject to the annual release quota of ten films and can apply for release in Taiwan. The reporter also interviewed Taiwanese distributors and directors affected by this policy. The industry generally believes that the symbolic significance of this change is greater than the substantive effect, but it is still an improvement.

Current situation: Ten films with good quotas each year may not necessarily be selected.

Unlike all Taiwanese films that have obtained the "Film Release License", which are distributed in the mainland as imported films and are not subject to import film quotas, Taiwan implements a quota system for mainland films. Only 10 mainland films can be screened in Taiwan every year. Initially, quotas were issued based on the order in which film distributors in Taiwan delivered copies to relevant departments, on a first-come, first-served basis, until the quota was full. So on December 31, 2011, a ridiculous scene occurred: more than a dozen publishers lined up all night long to rush to the offices of relevant departments to deliver documents early in the morning on January 1, 2012 to grab a quota.

In order to prevent similar situations from happening again, since 2013, Taiwan's "Film and Television Bureau" has changed to drawing lots to determine the quota order for mainland films to enter Taiwan. However, the contingency of the lottery is unavoidable. For example, in the 2013 lottery,"Lost in Thailand", which set the highest box office record for domestic film in the mainland, was ranked 12th due to the lottery and was unable to be released in Taiwan. In the draw in January 2014, only "Break Up Contract","Lifetime","Falling Feather","Palace Lock Agarwood","To Our Youth That Will Eventually Die","Saier Movie 3","Today Tomorrow","One River Bright Candle","Pickles" and "Modern Times" were lucky enough to win. Zhang Yimou's "Return" and Xu Anhua's "Golden Age" both missed the quota. As a result, many unpopular films that won the lottery have become box office cannon fodder, while some popular films with market appeal have been affected by the rules of the game. Therefore, the system of drawing lots for quotas has always been criticized.

In addition, the two sides of the Taiwan Strait signed a service trade agreement in June 2013. Taiwan relaxed its annual import quota of 10 mainland films to 15 films per year, which was also decided by drawing lots. However, due to opposition from Taiwanese students, the service trade agreement has not yet been signed and implemented.

Changes: Exceptions can be made for award-winning works from the four major film festivals

. On November 10, Taiwan made a partial amendment to the "Film Law", stipulating that in the future, if mainland films win any competition at the Cannes Film Festival, the Venice Film Festival, the Berlin Film Festival and the American Oscars. Awards, or win the Best Drama Film or Best Director Award at the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards, they will not be subject to the annual release quota of ten films and can apply for release in Taiwan.

"Industry Views"

Film Director Chen Kexin:

The new policy of "Dear" not being released in Taiwanhas more symbolic significance than the substantive effect

. In fact, before the queuing system and lottery system were implemented earlier, mainland films could be released as long as they registered. However, at that time, Taiwan distributors did not want to release many mainland films, and the demand was less than ten. However, as the market for mainland films in Taiwan has continued to expand in recent years, the original 10 quotas per year are no longer enough.

On the other hand, as most Hong Kong directors have entered the mainland to film, many co-productions have also been classified by Taiwan as mainland films rather than Hong Kong films due to factors such as the proportion of funds, the proportion of actors, and the proportion of staff. The works of these directors have changed from the original ones that are not subject to quotas to the present ones have to queue up and draw lots, which has a great impact. Among them, Chen Kexin is the representative. This year, his "Dear" was shortlisted for the Golden Horse Awards. Unfortunately, only the nominations were for Best Actress. That is, even if Zhao Wei won the award, she would still not be eligible for distribution in Taiwan and could only queue up for lottery.

Chen Kexin revealed in an interview with reporters that his previous films "The Warlords" and "October Besieged" were also co-productions, but they could be introduced to Taiwan as Hong Kong films. For him, from "The Warlords" and "October Besieged City" to "China Partner" and "Dear", the filming methods are the same. However, in the latter two films, more and more mainland actors and the filming locations are concentrated in the mainland, they are recognized as mainland films, and their distribution is hindered. "" China Partner "won the quota in 2013, but its box office in Taiwan was hit due to its failure to release simultaneously with the mainland as soon as possible;" Dear "failed to win the quota this year, and the Golden Horse Award was only shortlisted for Best Actress. It will not be released in Taiwan in the near future. We can only see whether it can be drawn again in January next year."

As a director who has his own distribution team in Taiwan and has many collaborations with Taiwanese filmmakers, Chen Kexin is very helpless. "My films all tell the stories of China, but the stories before were ancient, and the stories now are modern. The only differences are these."

As for the new rule that award-winning works at the four major film festivals can be exempted, Chen Kexin believes that the symbolic significance is greater than the substantive effect."Of course, it would be nice to have a few more works, but in fact only two or three awards are awarded in a year, or maybe only one." However, many good films that have not won awards still cannot be released in Taiwan. However, although lottery has drawbacks, it is currently the most reliable and relatively fair mechanism. If the lottery system is not used, some people will have subjective factors. Some people will stand from a commercial perspective and others will stand from an artistic perspective, and the films they choose to release will be different."

Although the Taiwan film market has been sluggish in recent years, and few Chinese films have box office exceeding 100 million, Chen Kexin still values the Taiwan market."Many people say that the Taiwan film market has hit the bottom, but I have always regarded this market as a market that cannot be abandoned. The return is not much, but one day it will get better."

Guo Zhicheng, Manager of Huaying's Distribution Department:

I want to introduce the most ideal model for holding a film festival without drawing a ticket for "Golden Age": co-productions from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and three places will be divided into

box office Taiwan's Huaying Entertainment Company once released "Let the Bullets Fly" by director Jiang Wen. This year, the company plans to introduce "Golden Age" and "One Step Away". Regarding the shortcomings of the current quota system, Guo Zhicheng, manager of Huaying's distribution department, believes that first, because the annual quota application time is January, some excellent mainland films will not be filed or completed until the second half of the year. If they wait until the next year to participate in the lottery and obtain quotas, they will miss the golden period of release, and the promotion will be difficult. The actor schedule is not easy to cooperate, and the media attention will not be too high. At present, Huaying's operating method is that for films that have already been released in the mainland, they are ready for release at any time, and will release them immediately once the quota is drawn to reduce the time gap as much as possible. In addition, Huaying will also keep in close contact with mainland filmmakers to know in advance what films they will produce this year, and then register for the lottery in January. If the quota happens to be drawn, it can be promoted and released simultaneously across the Taiwan Strait.

The second drawback of the quota system is that since Taiwan stipulates that 20 mainland films that have obtained a film license can be broadcast on Taiwan Cable TV every year, those that have not received them will have to wait two years after the film is released before applying for broadcast. Some distributors participated in the quota lottery just to get the TV rights to broadcast the movie and were not really ready to release it. In addition, there are also some film companies that have obtained quotas, but they do not appear because they have not agreed on conditions with mainland film companies or have poor expectations at the box office. This results in a waste of quotas and encroaching on the quota of films that really want to be screened in Taiwan.

What if you don't have luck and get drawn and want to distribute it in Taiwan? Guo Zhicheng revealed that one of the current ways is to hold a cross-Strait film festival and gather many cinemas to apply together. Each applying theater in the film festival can show 8 films. He said that if "Golden Age" fails to win the Best Picture or Best Director Award in this year's Golden Horse, it may hold a film festival to be released in Taiwan.

The most ideal model is to adopt a cross-Strait co-production model."For example," The Stolen Five Years "is a good example. If the actor group from the three places across the Taiwan Strait, part of which is filmed in Taiwan, it can simultaneously promote and simultaneously release, and jointly participate in the box office share are also the future development trend. The film ranked among the top ten of the year in Taiwan's Chinese-language films this year."

Regarding when mainland films can be fully opened in Taiwan, Guo Zhicheng believes that it will take time."There are still cultural, economic and trade considerations and so-called political considerations." As for what kind of mainland films have a better market in Taiwan? Guo Zhicheng said that it still depends on the star lineup and director of the film. "Currently, the best release in Taiwan is" Painted Skin "because of its entertainment and commercial nature; there is also" China Partner "(called" The Broad Sky "in Taiwan). Due to the film itself and director Chen Kexin's box office appeal in Taiwan, the response is good. In addition, films by Guan Jinpeng, Lou Ye, and Feng Xiaogang are also very popular and highly accepted in Taiwan."