"Clouds float in the air, fish hide in the water..."
This is the lyrics of the song "Yu Guang Qu" sung by the famous performing artist Wang Renmei. This year is the 90th anniversary of the release of the film of the same name. Her singing voice not only goes through the times, but also moves from China to the world. In 1935, "Yu Guang Qu" won the first place at the Moscow International Film Exhibition in the Soviet Union, and was praised as the first Chinese film to gain international recognition, which was also an important step for Chinese films to go global.
Tao Bosun, General Manager of Lianhua Film Company, attended the Soviet Film Festival
In China at that time, when the nation was saving the nation from subjugation, it seemed an unreachable dream for filmmakers to create wantonly and take their works to the world.
And through generations of filmmakers, step by step, this distant dream can be reflected into reality.
Among these dream adventures, the Cannes International Film Festival is a special one, because so far, only one Chinese film has won the Palme d'Or. We are looking forward to the confrontation between Chinese films and the world's film makers again and again in Cannes, and also look forward to when a "master" will win the second Palme d'Or.
▄ Two big guides, showing their talent for the first time
The affinity between Chinese films and the Cannes International Film Festival does not come out of thin air.
As early as 1955, Cannes held a special screening activity for Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai directed by Sang Arc. In 1956, Cai Chusheng, the director of "Fishing Light Song", was invited to lead a film delegation to Cannes for exchange.
The crew of "Yu Guang Qu"
Although two of China's third-generation directors did not compete for any awards, they took the lead.
In 1960, Hong Kong director Li Hanxiang was shortlisted for the 13th main competition unit with "The Ghost of a Beautiful Girl". In 1962 and 1963, he was shortlisted for the 15th and 16th main competition units successively with "Concubine Yang" and "Empress Wu". Among them, "Concubine Yang" won the technical award. The ghost of a beautiful woman, Concubine Yang and Empress Wu are three totally different stories about women in ancient China, and they are also traditional Chinese cultural themes that Li Hanxiang is good at.
The stills of Concubine Yang
Li Hanxiang was picked up by his "little brother", Hu Jinquan from Beijing to Hong Kong. Hu Jinquan also brought an ancient Chinese woman into the main competition unit in Cannes, and she was also a "chivalrous woman". Chivalrous Women not only let the world see the depth and breadth of Chinese martial arts films, laid the foundation for future Chinese martial arts films to shine in the world, but also let the heroine Xu Feng have an international vision. In the future, she will come to Cannes twice as a producer with Farewell My Concubine and Fengyue, and win the only Golden Palm.
Xu Feng, Chen Kaige and Zhang Guorong in Cannes
▄ Two generations of directors, going to the world
In 1982, The True Story of Ah Q, directed by Cen Fan, became the first film to compete in Cannes in New China. He is like a spark, which quickly ignites the international road of Chinese films. Six years later, Zhang Yimou won the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival with Red Sorghum. In the same year, Chen Kaige entered the main competition unit of Cannes for the first time with "The King of Children".
Stills of the Kid King
Two leading figures of the fifth generation directors became regular visitors to Cannes in the 1990s.
Director Zhang Yimou has been shortlisted for three times and won the jury award. Director Chen Kaige has been shortlisted in the main competition unit for five times, winning the only Palme d'Or in Chinese movies.
After the fifth generation of directors, the intermediate force represented by the sixth generation of directors has become a regular visitor to Cannes. They made great efforts to expand their territory and open up a new situation for Chinese films.
Through the fifth and sixth generation of directors, as well as the works of Hong Kong and Taiwan directors at the same time, the internationally known actors have been constantly unlocking different identities to participate in the Cannes event.
▄ New forces, diversified and wonderful
At this year's Cannes International Film Festival, Chinese filmmakers have made a splash in Cannes. Contemporary directors such as Jia Zhangke, Guan Hu, Lou Ye and Chen Kexin have entered different film festival units with their latest masterpieces.
Outside Cannes, Chinese movie stars shine on the stage of film festivals all over the world.
At the Tokyo International Film Festival last year, Gu Xiaogang, an old friend of the Beijing Film Festival, was shortlisted in the main competition unit with "The World of Plants". He was also awarded the "Kurosawa Prize" in 2023. Our beloved leader of the "Tibetan New Wave", Wanma Caidan, won the best film award for his posthumous work Snow Leopard.
Gu Xiaogang at Tokyo International Film Festival
We believe that the internationalization of Chinese films will also become more stable.
The official unit of this Cannes Film Festival is not only the reunion of the sixth generation of Chinese directors, but also a glimpse of its richness from many aspects. The new work of Indian director Kapadia, the new work of Indian director Kapadia, the new work of British director Andrea Arnold, who won the jury award for three times, Bird, and the works of many other female filmmakers are gathered together, To some extent, it balanced the gender ratio of the main competition.
We can also see the work Metropolis prepared by Francis Ford Coppola, a legendary director of a generation, for many years. A variety of films of different dimensions gathered here, enriching the selection ideas of the entire official unit.
This makes us realize that the competition unit of a film festival is its real vitality. We are encouraged to continue to work hard to create the main competition unit of "Temple of Heaven Award" and create a more diversified exhibition plate.
The Beijing International Film Festival also took advantage of the platform to release the latest achievements, award-winning films and projects of the 14th Beijing Film Festival overseas. It successfully held the "Beijing Film Night - Cannes Promotion Conference of Beijing International Film Festival", standing on the highland of world film and looking forward to the future. Jiao Xiongping and Jia Zhangke also spoke at the promotion meeting, hoping for a broad road for Chinese films. This year is the seventh time Jia Zhangke has brought his works to Cannes, and netizens are very concerned about whether his "goddess" Zhao Tao can win the film queen.
China Film Joint Booth
▄ The future has come, and a hundred flowers bloom
At the Cannes Film Festival China Pavilion event, Mao Yu, Executive Deputy Director of the Film Bureau of the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee, when talking about the policy of introducing foreign films into the Chinese film market, His speech excited industry insiders and movie fans: "We will uphold an open and inclusive mind, optimize film introduction policies, encourage and support the introduction of business, and widely introduce more diverse and diversified global films, so that Chinese audiences can see the best films in the world."
Mao Yu, Executive Deputy Director of the Film Bureau of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, made a speech
China has the most enthusiastic fan group. It is hard to get one ticket for all previous exhibitions of the Beijing Film Festival. The Chinese film market is like a wilderness, waiting for the arrival of good films.
The Lebanese film "How to Be Home", which won the Jury Award in Cannes, not only scored 9.1 points in Douban, but also was released in China, with a proud achievement of 376 million. Although this film tells a story about Syrian refugees, the emotion expressed in it is a world language, which transcends national boundaries and cultural differences, penetrates the gap between language and culture, touches the hearts of countless audiences, and makes countless Chinese audiences cry. The director Nadine Rabaki is also an old friend of the Beijing Film Festival. In 2021, she served as the judge of the main competition unit of the "Temple of Heaven Award". This year, she came to the Beijing Film Festival as the star of the film "Back to Alexandria Port", which was shortlisted in the main competition, and participated in the forum activity of "High quality and diversity of film creation". This year, she is also one of the judges of the main competition unit in Cannes.
Nadine Rabaki at the Forum of "High Quality and Diversity of Film Creation"
The Beijing Film Festival has also been committed to exploring the diversity of China's film market. In the screening segment of this Beijing International Film Festival market, it has created a platform for exchanges between Chinese and foreign filmmakers and facilitated numerous copyright transactions.
We can see that the content of the film list is also very rich, including short films, projects in production and complete films, providing cooperation exposure in different directions for film works at different stages, including financing, post production, cinema distribution, new media distribution, etc.
At the same time, the concept of unit was introduced for the first time in this market screening, and the "market potential unit", "official recommendation unit" and "project venture capital young filmmaker unit" were specially set up, hoping to promote the film makers to reach an efficient cooperation with industry guests/buyers, help the film projects to land and blossom on the screen.
▄ Cannes from dream to palace
Ninety years ago, "Yu Guang Qu" took the first step with Chinese films. Today's Beijing Film Festival takes another small step in the process of internationalization of Chinese films.
For us, every small step towards the cinema is an important step. Without the spirit of "one step at a time, one thousand miles away" from our ancestors to today, generations of filmmakers, we cannot see that Chinese films are blooming in the world.
Through on-screen exchanges again and again, the world will know more about China and let us get closer to the world.
"All the past is the prelude". The brilliant achievements in the past are the driving force for our progress and the starting point for opening a new chapter. If you want to rush to the peak, you must set off immediately.
Looking back on the past of Chinese films in Cannes is the hard work of generations of Chinese filmmakers; Looking forward, it may be more a confidence and mind of civilization exchange and mutual learning.
Sometimes I will ride the wind and waves, and I will sail straight to the sea.
