Rao Shuguang: Young filmmakers are becoming an important force in the development of China's films

A few days ago, at the 11th Chinese Youth Forum, Rao Shuguang, Secretary-General of the China Film Association, delivered a keynote speech entitled "The speed of renewal is accelerating, and young directors are running out of time." He pointed out that the younger generation is becoming an important force representing the development of China films, and must be the most active, creative and imaginative force.

A few days ago, at the 11th Chinese Youth Forum, Rao Shuguang, Secretary-General of the China Film Association, delivered a keynote speech entitled "The speed of renewal is accelerating, and young directors are running out of time." He pointed out that the younger generation is becoming an important force representing the development of China films, and must be the most active, creative and imaginative force. With new observation angles, new ways of thinking, new film language and their understanding of young audiences, they continue to break through the fixed pattern of traditional films, bringing a steady stream of new impetus and new vitality to China films. At the same time, he also sent a message to young filmmakers that in addition to having feelings, dreams, and abilities, they must also persist in not being afraid of failure.

Today, we grandly opened the 11th Chinese Youth Forum in the beautiful Jiangcheng Wuhan. On behalf of Chairman Li Xuejian and Secretary Zhang Hong, representatives of the China Film Association, I would like to extend a warm welcome to friends from all over the world! Everyone is gathered here because of their love for movies and the support of young directors. I believe that our gathering can collide with sparks of thought and passion for creation.

The Chinese Youth Image Forum was established in 2006, sponsored by China Filmmakers Association and hosted by Film Art magazine. As we all know, there are many activities aimed at supporting young filmmakers, but the one that lasts the longest and has the best reputation in the film industry is undoubtedly the Chinese Youth Image Forum. It can be said that the number one brand that supports young directors and young filmmakers is our Chinese Youth Image Forum!

In 2006, I was still working at the China Film Art Research Center (China Film Archive) at that time, and participated in related activities in almost every session. Because I think the Chinese Youth Image Forum has two biggest characteristics, one is its professionalism and the other is its credibility. As a public welfare film cultural activity, the Chinese Youth Image Forum has not expanded in terms of industry, but just now everyone saw the short film and a large number of filmmakers have emerged from the platform, such as Li Yu, Wanma Caidan, Lu Yang, Han Yan, etc., all came out of the Youth Image Forum and are now all influential and important figures in the film industry. Vice Chairman Feng Xiaogang served as the director of the jury of the 11th session, and leaders in the film industry in photography, art, editing, performance and other industries served as judges, demonstrating the industry's attention and support for the Chinese-speaking Youth Image Forum.

In 2006, our Chinese Youth Image Forum announced that when the film industry started as a youth, the market size of China films was still very small, with the overall scale of only over 2 billion yuan. In 2015, it had reached 44 billion yuan; a few days ago, it exceeded 40 billion yuan, and there is no problem to reach 50 billion yuan this year. So far, the Chinese Youth Image Forum has launched more than 400 works for China's film industry, with more than 100 filmmakers, which has had widespread influence and effects and has become an important force in the sustainable development of China's film industry.

The Chinese Youth Image Forum is also an important cultural project supported by China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the Ministry of Finance. It has been a hard work in ten years. Since 2015, our Chinese Youth Image Forum has moved to Wuhan. Wuhan has nearly 100 schools. Wuhan is a leader in the construction of urban agglomerations in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. We feel extremely enthusiastic about cooperating with Wuhan, and we also feel that Hubei Wuhan films will have a new take-off. The two teams have also cooperated very well. Starting this year, they will carry out new expansion based on the original, restore the investment and financing platform for youth films, change their name to New Youth Manufacturing, and build a creative and power aggregation platform for young directors. This forum will have producers and directors from more than 20 well-known companies in the Chinese Film Festival to conduct project docking and negotiation. We believe that many original works will be born here.

It should have a special significance for many filmmakers in Wuhan to discuss Chinese-language films, because China's first film,"Dingjun Mountain", starred by famous Peking Opera artist Tan Xinpei, and Mr. Tan is from Wuhan. In addition, Wuhan has also exported a lot of talents to China films.

As we all know, the Film Industry Promotion Law of the People's Republic of China will come into effect on March 1, 2017. Standing at a new historical juncture and facing some new situations in China's films, how much support can we provide to the film industry, especially young filmmakers, and provide more support for film art creation and the film industry? The Chinese Youth Imaging Forum has undoubtedly been providing "blood-forming mechanisms and blood-forming functions" for film art creation and the film industry. In the next four days, a screening event gathering 35 outstanding directors 'works and a multi-themed summit will be held simultaneously. Concepts and practices promote each other and complement each other. It is a film event worth looking forward to for both filmmakers and the film industry.

Since the second quarter of 2016, the growth rate of China films has slowed down or even declined. There is a lot of debate about slowing down or even declining growth. Some people believe that this is an inflection point in the development of China films. I personally have always insisted that this is a profound structural adjustment of China films: the past development model of quantity and scale has become unsustainable, and we must do our best to promote the development of China films from quantity and scale to quality and connotation. In other words, promote the structural optimization of China films through profound structural adjustments and create a new landscape and new business format in the golden era of China film development.

There is no doubt that the prospects of China films must be optimistic. But we must also be clear that China films are now facing a critical moment for development, which can be said to be a difficult period and a difficult period. As we all know, many things have happened around "Pan Jinlian" some time ago, which has also attracted widespread attention from the whole society. I personally insist that at this critical moment and difficult period, China films should not friction with each other, but should unite as one and pool all our strength to promote the improvement of the quality of China films and promote the connotative development of China films.

From a national perspective, we are in the historical process of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Movies make our country, the whole society, and everyone's goals more beautiful and brilliant. The Chinese Youth Image Forum has built a platform for young filmmakers to display their talents, making the goals of each young filmmaker clearer. To enhance the core competitiveness of China's films, we need to strengthen mutual exchanges and communication among young directors, strengthen mutual exchanges and communication among the film industry, and strengthen exchanges and communication between the film industry and all sectors of society. The forum provides us with such an opportunity. We hope that such a grand event will make the whole society pay more attention to our young filmmakers and the current development of films in China, and transform the beautiful slogan of the film industry starting from youth into reality. The younger generation is becoming an important force representing the development of China film, and must be the most active, creative and imaginative force. With new observation angles, new ways of thinking, new film language and their understanding of young audiences, they continue to break through the fixed pattern of traditional films, bringing a steady stream of new impetus and new vitality to China films. Various cross-border new forces have brought various effective resources to expand the types needed by China films. Moreover, the audience group born in the 1980s, 1990s and even 2000s has grown up in an environment nourished by the Internet and games. They are born with the Internet gene and are fanatical in pursuing a more tense rhythm, a more linear narrative, and a more game-friendly audio-visual environment. Their needs, appreciation and consumption tendencies will greatly affect and restrict the creation and production of China films. All of this provides unique historic opportunities for young directors, especially cross-border directors. The reason why new directors and cross-border directors can quickly become a new force in China films is that they have a more direct feeling and a deeper understanding of the movie-watching psychology and movie-watching needs of young audiences, so that they can better grasp the pulse and direction of the market. I hope that more young filmmakers will not forget their original aspirations and contribute a steady stream of new creations and new powers to the sustainable development of China films!

Why you? This is a question repeatedly raised by the Chinese Youth Photography Forum. It is also a question that young filmmakers need to constantly ask themselves and constantly reflect on at all times. Mr. Marc Bidon, former chairman of the French Cinema League, famous film producer and film selector, talked about his personal film career, which started as a theater operator serving coffee on the shooting scene (many of our young friends now love to say I want to be a director, I want to be a producer). With his dreams and ideals deep in his heart, he used coffee to learn how to communicate with people in the film industry, including big celebrities. At the same time, he also learned all the skills, techniques, and techniques needed to make films, and eventually became an internationally renowned producer and leader. There is no doubt that young filmmakers have ideals, feelings, ambitions and pursuits, but what seems to be more important is the ability to communicate and dialogue with every profession in the film industry. You must not only have the ability to present your artistic feelings, but also have the ability to convince others, especially investors, that you have the potential to be a true film director. "The film industry starts with youth" is just a tempting slogan, but not every young man with dreams can have a real start. Movies are a dream, and the film industry is a dream, but not everyone can realize their movie dreams, and everyone can realize their life dreams through movies. Making movies requires extraordinary talent, as well as strong financial resources, both talent and money, and only by ideals can reality. Nowadays, there are tens of thousands of people with movie dreams-plus micro-movies and online big movies, it's really an astronomical number. If you want to stand out among thousands of troops and horses, you may be really looking at the ocean and sighing if you don't have the ability to overcome five obstacles. Why you? Feelings, dreams, abilities and perseverance not to be afraid of failure cannot be missing.

As we all know, the French people's love for movies goes deep into their bones. This love for movies in their bones makes them do not hesitate to use any means or method to protect movies, so that the blood of movies as culture and humans (movies are undoubtedly the most harmless and therefore the greatest invention of mankind) coexist and prosper forever. Because of their love, they proposed cultural exceptions, cultural diversity, and spared no effort to maintain the diversity of films. A number of mandatory and even legally binding policies have been formulated: for example, when new films are released on Wednesday, no TV stations can broadcast movies; 3% of TV stations 'operating income (operating income, not profit) must be used to support movies. The author visited the French Film Alliance a few years ago and heard them introduce that the French Film Alliance also has a mandatory rule that the labor of all personnel in a film cannot exceed 50% of the budget of a film. The author has also raised this issue in many film forums, but unfortunately it has not attracted enough attention from all aspects. There are indeed some abnormal phenomena in the film industry in China. For example, individual stars take away 70 or 80 percent of the budget, creating an embarrassing situation in which the film industry largely works for stars. Continuing this situation is obviously not conducive to the overall interests of China's film industry, and it cannot sustainably protect the personal interests of stars in the long run. Some problems can be solved by legislation, and some problems can also be regulated by industry conventions. For example, industry conventions can allow stars to appear in the works of young directors for zero or low pay; famous directors in the film industry can supervise young directors, etc.

Editor: yvette