Headlines from China: Two Chinese Films Enter Berlinale Generation Section

Two Chinese Films Enter Berlinale Generation Section

Two Chinese debut features by female directors, The Crossing (过春天) and A First Farewell (第一次离别), have been selected into the Berlinale Generation section. The Crossing, a coming-of-age story of 16-year-old girl Peipei, is directed by BAI Xue, with the well-acclaimed director Tian Zhuangzhuang as the executive producer. It has won the Fei Mu Awards for Best Film and Best Actress at the Pingyao International Film Festival in October. A First Farewell is directed by WANG Lina and focuses on the family love and friendship of a Muslim boy from Xinjiang. The film has won the Best Asian Future Film Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival. Read more on MTime

Why Russian Films Flop In the Chinese Market?

Lately, another batch of foreign buyout films hit the Chinese cinemas. While films like Pad Man from India, My Neighbor Totoro from Japan are chasing the Hollywood blockbuster Aquaman in screen share on their opening day, Naparnik (最萌警探) from Russia was only given 0.8% of the screens when it opened. Looking at the Russian films released in China over the past few years, we see a slew of flops. And here are some possible reasons: Russian films generally can’t beat Hollywood movies in terms of storytelling and special effects. The big gap between a film’s release in Russia and in China also negatively affects its box office performance. And the substantial cultural differences make it difficult for Russian films to win over the Chinese audience. Moreover, the poor performance of Russian films at the box office discourages Chinese distributors to invest in marketing and promoting Russian films, which leads to the low recognition of Russian films in the long run. Read more on yiyuguancha

This Propaganda TV Show Receives Critical Acclaim in China

Like a Flowing River (大江大河), a nationalistic TV drama series, has received a high score of 8.9/10 on douban.com from Chinese audience and marks the new era of official propaganda TV shows. There are 21 TV shows to celebrate the 40th anniversary of reform and opening-up policy in China. While state-owned CCTV still features country, family, reform, and troops, the local TV stations focus on city, romance, and detective genres which are popular among the young audience. 11 out of 13 propaganda TV shows that play on local TV stations star idols and celebrities. Many portray young protagonists to attract the audience. With more promotional efforts and better publicity strategies, local TV stations help open a new era of official political propaganda shows. shuyumenggongchang