Funding festival-worthy films

A jury of 21 members from 13 countries and regions led by Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore will pick the Golden Goblet Award winners in five categories — feature-length films, Asian new talent, documentaries, animated films, and short films.

In addition to handing out awards, the festival focuses on markets, forums, and film exhibitions, aiming to build an international platform and promote the development of the Chinese film industry.

"The past decade witnessed China's overall box-office income grow from 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) to a stable 50 billion, reaching its height in 2019 at 60 billion yuan," said Li Jie, president of Damai Entertainment, during an affiliated forum on Sunday in Shanghai. Damai Entertainment has served as the official ticketing agency for the film festival for 10 consecutive years.

"We have observed drastic changes in China — film genres and subjects, audience preferences, demographics, and the ratio of domestic to foreign language movies."

He points out that despite the massive success of the Chinese animation film Ne Zha 2 during the Spring Festival period, the domestic film market this year has not performed as well as the previous year. Few new movies achieved the box office threshold of 500 million yuan.

Industry insiders have held many discussions on how to lure audiences back to the cinema, he says. He believes the industry needs comprehensive innovation, from its creative dimensions and production costs to the promotional campaigns.