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Diminishing magic
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-03-29 15:14
Film buffs in China have been showered with two new film awards in the past
three months.
This file photo shows the star-studded closing
ceremony of the 11th China Golden Rooster and Hundred Flower Film Festival
held in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, on October 22, 2002. [China
Daily/file] |
Both are
projected to challenge existing ones such as the once influential and academic
Golden Rooster and the more than 40-year-old Hundred Flower Film Awards.
In mid-January, the results of the first Chinese Film Directors' Guild Awards
were announced in Beijing.
Speaking at the launch ceremony, held in Beijing earlier this month, director
of the organizing committee and veteran Shanghai film producer Zhu Yongde said
winners of the new first China Film Billboard Awards, will be revealed in early
May.
Showing confidence in the popularity of the new awards, he added: "We believe
that the China Film Billboard Awards will be among the most prestigious for the
Chinese film industry and the general public."
However, the attitude of some moviegoers like Liu Dayan, a film fan in
Beijing, might undermine Zhu's assuredness.
"So many film awards have already been set up in China," she said. "And their
results are so different. As a moviegoer, it is really hard to tell which
Chinese movies are actually good."
And industry observers are also sceptical there is enough room for more movie
awards.
"I think it is a luxury for Chinese film makers to enjoy so many awards,"
commented a renowned Beijing film scholar on condition of anonymity.
For years, the Hundred Flower Awards have been the most recognized by the
vast majority of China's moviegoers.
Old awards
"The Hundred Flowers Film Awards used to be really worthwhile, particularly
in the 1980s. But today not many moviegoers care about them," said Beijing movie
buff, Xing Zhaolin, 53, sharply criticizing the decline in standards of the
awards over recent years.
Since the 1990s, with the rapid development of China's publishing and
entertainment industries, Chinese people have had an increasing amount of choice
in entertainment.
In the face of fierce competition from new magazines, newspapers, TV and the
Internet, the circulation of Popular Cinema magazine has dropped to about
200,000 copies.
The transparency and fairness of the Hundred Flower Film Awards is being
frequently questioned by moviegoers and critics alike after some unknown films
and film performers won the awards.
The 1980s also saw a rise in the popularity of the Golden Rooster Film
Awards.
"The Golden Rooster Awards enjoyed popularity in the 1980s for its fairness
and authority. But its reputation has been tainted in recent years," said Luo
Yijun, a veteran film critic who had served as a member of the judging panel for
the Golden Rooster Awards for nine years since 1981.
Since 2002, script writer Wang Xingdong, director Feng Xiaogang, and many
other film industry insiders have publicly criticized the Golden Rooster Awards
for their lack of transparency and unconvincing results.
New awards emerging
As a result, more film awards emerged in the 1990s.
In 1992, the Changchun Film Festival's Golden Deer Awards were established.
In 1993, the Shanghai International Film Festival Jinjue (Golden Trophy) Awards
came into being.
The Beijing Students Film Festival Awards took shape in 1995 as the student
choice of top Chinese films.
The much-hyped Chinese Film Directors' Guild Awards were the first to be
publicized as "real professional film awards" and "a critical challenger" to
existing awards.
"Unlike many other existing film awards in China, our award is more accurate
and trustworthy in defining which are good and which are bad films. We look at
the films themselves, their technical merit, their inner strength, their visual
quality and their market performances, but nothing else," film director Lu
Xuechang ("Making of a Steel" and "Cala, My Dog") and member of the judging
panel, claimed in a press conference on February 14 in Beijing.
Now comes a new challenger - the China Film Billboard Awards.
The new awards are aimed at encouraging film makers and investors by awarding
prizes to the best performers in the film market, said Zhu Yongde at a press
conference early this month.
Zhu added that the panel will make their judgment in terms of marketing
strategies and their execution, box office returns at home and abroad, and the
popularity of the films, actors and actresses among audiences.
To ensure transparency and fairness, the judging panel will include film
producers, script writers, directors, actors, distributors, cinema owners,
critics and journalists, Zhu said.
Voting will be through printed ballots, the Internet, mobile phone messages,
post and telephone hotlines, Zhu said.
"The whole judging and voting process will be put under strict scrutiny with
help from a notary office and a trustworthy accounting firm," he added.
Doubts and hopes
The candidates for the first China Film Billboard Awards were announced two
weeks ago, to a flood of questions and criticisms.
Although Chinese cinema turns 100 this year, the film market is plagued with
many problems.
"It is a fact that China's film market is still troubled by a series of
hard-to-crack illnesses," wrote Li Hongyu, a film critic, in a recent issue of
Nanfang Weekend. The problems cited include copyright infringements, box office
income evasion by local cinemas, and misleading advertising for films that trick
audiences into cinemas, Li wrote.
"Under such circumstances, it is hard for us to believe there exists a fair
and convincing film awards," Li added.
An article in the recent issue of the China Culture Daily questioned the
legitimacy of Beijing's Huayi Brothers Advertising Co as the major co-organizer
of the film awards. Three of last year's biggest grossing films, produced by the
advertising company's parent company, Beijing Huayi Taihe Film Investment and
Production Company, have entered the shortlist for the awards.
The three films are "Kungfu Hustle," "Kekexili: Mountain Patrol" and "A World
without Thieves."
"New film awards are mushrooming, but their influence is fading for various
reasons," said Li Baojiang. "Fewer and fewer audiences take part in the voting
process or take the final results seriously."
Many film directors and produces have also shunned domestic film awards and
sent their movies to international film festivals instead, Li said.
"Very often, international film festival awards are used as major means of
promoting domestic box office sales," Li noted.
But Sun Jiansan, a veteran Chinese film historian said: "No matter how badly
Chinese film awards are criticized, they have their unique value."
It is a good thing to see more film awards emerging, he pointed out. "It
shows that many people still care about the future of the Chinese film industry.
And many investors are still interested in taking risks in this potentially
profitable market."
For those awards accused of being plagued by lack of transparency and
irregularities during the judging process, he hopes organizers will make
adjustments.
"Otherwise they will be forgotten forever by the industry and general public
alike," Sun warned.
"It takes time for Chinese film awards to ripen. But first, they must have
the chance to emerge."
Filmmakers looking outside the country to win international film awards do
not worry him too much either, Sun said, because "that shows the growing
confidence of Chinese filmmakers."
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