And when Wang Xiaoshuai's Cannes-winning Shanghai Dreams prepared its release in June, the film crew was prevented from visiting Chengdu, China's fourth largest city, to promote their film. Cinema proprietors in Chengdu believed it would add up to too much promotional cost if they were to receive the director and his actors. "Given that art-house films such as The World only took in 100,000 yuan, there is no need for them (the Shanghai Dreams crew) to "waste money" on promotional cost," said the proprietors.

A month later, Shanghai Dreams' distribution company held a champagne party celebrating the film's box office reaching 3 million yuan. Ironically, the next week, the star-studded car-racing movie Initial D raked in 35 million yuan in just a week's time. Not to mention how such a box office gross can compare with 100-million hits such as Zhang Yimou's Hero or Feng Xiao Gang's A World Without Thieves.

With award-winning films already facing such an embarrassing situation, it is even more worrying for up-and-coming films with similar art-house styles.

In China, 90 percent of the filmmakers are labeled as art-house filmmakers, while only 10 percent make purely commercial fares. However, the current situation in the Chinese film market shows that the market does not welcome these art-house films. Or to put in another way, the market does not have space to accommodate such films.

With China's fast economic growth and the profit-oriented rule of the market, more and more foreign blockbuster films have entered the market. Filmgoers in China have begun to enjoy the thrill of Hollywood-styled sensations, while their film tastes have begun to lean towards Hollywood commercial films. Like the nouveau rich, they are celebrating the joy of breaking away from poverty.

With local commercial films immediately defeated by Hollywood blockbuster movies, Chinese auteur films, naturally, were even faster left behind like orphans. As a result, Hollywood films soon set up their brand names in the Chinese film market. And the environment needed for developing Chinese auteur films remains insufficient.

Page:

1

2

3

All rights reserved. Reproduction of text for non-commercial purposes is permitted provided that both the source and author are acknowledged and a notifying email is sent to us.