Much more than just a movie event

The Belt and Road Film Festival Alliance has also witnessed a growing number of coproductions between China and these countries and regions involved in the BRI. One of them is King of Grapes, an ongoing coproduction between China and Australia about the friendship between two vineyard workers in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region and Australia's Victoria, which joined the initiative last year.

Filmmakers from China and abroad also shared their insights and observations about China's film industry at the SIFF. During a forum related to the establishment of an industrial system in filmmaking, Li Zhan, a partner of Fanink Consulting Co, says China's film industry has entered a phase of steady development. Li's company conducts surveys and data analysis on China's film market.

Li points out that 16 of the most successful films in 2018 accounted for more than half of the box-office volume, which means that small and medium films now face greater competition.

"This trend shows that China's film market is maturing and growing steadily. At the present stage of development, film producers in China should be building a more efficient industrial framework that allows them to access a much wider audience and ultimately retain them," he adds.

Guo Fan, director of The Wandering Earth, the Chinese movie that smashed box-office records earlier this year with ticket earnings of 4.7 billion yuan, says he learned about China's urgent need for a professional industrial system "the hard way".