Beijing Film Market opens doors to China

In addition to a market with sales booths, the event will feature a conference programme and a projects market in collaboration with China Film Co-production Corp (CFCC). The event will take place as part of the Beijing International Film Festival (April 23-28).

“The conference will focus on co-production between China and international companies,” said market director Wang Yu. “Co-productions can help foreign companies gain access to the China market, and we hope that by working with foreign companies, the standard of Chinese filmmaking will improve.”

Wang said that another aim of the market is to enable Chinese film investors, banks and government officials to understand how the international film market works: “China has many investors, but their understanding of the film business is lacking, so there’s a lot of work that needs to be done.”

The market will host 200 sales booths – half for Chinese and half for foreign companies – with country pavilions hosted by organisations from the US, Europe and Asia. The co-production market will select around 20 projects in any language that are suitable for Sino-foreign co-production.

Wang said the market will provide flight and hotel costs for select buyers and sellers. The National Convention Centre, used as the press centre for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, has several hotels nearby.

The festival and market, organised by the Beijing municipal government and China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), were held for the first time in April last year. The market was much smaller with 100 booths in the Beijing International Hotel.

The line-up for the festival, to be held at ten cinemas around Beijing, will be announced in the second week of March. The festival will also feature a ‘Citizen’s Carnival’ with outdoor film screenings and performances, aimed at increasing public participation in the event.