China's advantage in filmmaking lies in its culture: Guo Fan

"Wandering Earth" Director Guo Fan says the industrial development of China's film industry is not mature yet, and the biggest advantage for Chinese filmmakers is their national culture.

"Wandering Earth" director Guo Fan speaks at a forum about the efficiency and efficacy of the film industry during the Shanghai International Film Festival, which will run until Monday, June 24. [Photo: siff.com]

"I want to cite an example," Guo said. "How should a director choose a film project among 100 film scripts? A good story is an important criterion, under which 95 film scripts may be less than adequate. Eventually we have five good stories to enter our final considerations. In this case, an additional criterion should be considered if the story gives strong messages about our Chinese culture. If so, we may undertake it. But if not, why should we bother to make a film that filmmakers from other nations can also produce?"

Guo's smash hit 'The Wandering Earth' is based on works by Liu Cixin, who has endeavored to create a distinctly Chinese style of science fiction. Also, critics attribute the film's domestic success to its unique cultural context in that it tells a story Chinese people are quite familiar with. For instance, the Chinese people in the film wanted to help make the Earth rotate as it was coming to a halt. Some critics have pointed out that this plot point is linked with Chinese farming culture.

Labeled as a science fiction director, Guo continued to say that a style of Chinese sci-fi film hasn't been set up yet. He believes that China is not ready to make 'soft' sci-fi films, which put more focus on characters, culture and sociology.

"There's a logical order in it. We may find there are both lots of soft and hard science fiction films in Hollywood. But the hard sci-fi movie, a category characterized by dedicated attention on scientific accuracy and logic, came first to serve as a foundation," Guo said. "Hollywood filmmakers spent decades making hard sci-fi movies, which paved the way for the growth of soft sci-fi films thereafter. China is still young in making sci-fi films"

There's a whole new world in sci-fi film. Moviegoers will first have to believe in such a world before getting fascinated with it. "So gaining their trust is important, otherwise they wouldn't be interested in the characters as well as their emotions in the films," Guo Fan said.

A forum on new science fiction movie-making technology was a major event at the Shanghai International Film Festival, which will run until Monday, June 24. [Photo: siff.com]

The director cited the example of "Journey to the West," the 1986 Chinese television series adapted from the classic novel. "Since the TV drama series gained a high level of popularity among audiences, from then on, film or TV productions on "Journey to the West" having their Monkey King Sun Wukong and Pigsy Zhu Bajie look a certain way encounter no trouble in convincing audiences that what they see is an authentic interpretation."

"But sci-fi movie production in China lacks such a building process," said Guo. "We should gradually set it up and enter audiences' hearts bit by bit. That is my primary reason why I advised that China should not do soft sci-fi films now."

The director is one of the speechmakers at a forum that discussed the efficiency and efficacy of the film industrial system during the Shanghai International Film Festival.

Paul J. Franklin, an English visual effects supervisor who won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for Inception in 2010, shares a similar view to Guo Fan. "Chinese science fiction has its own strong personal voice. I don't think Chinese filmmakers should worry too much about trying to make films that entertain international audiences at the cost of losing what is unique about the Chinese perspectives on things."

"There's a whole wealth of history about China that people in the west are all aware of. So it's not necessary to imitate other people, but do your own thing," added Franklin.

As the main event of the Shanghai International Film Festival, SIFFORUM aims to create an intercultural communication platform for domestic and foreign filmmakers. These forums invite industry professionals to hold discussions in regard to industry structure, film production, advanced technology, talent cultivation and culture exchanges. This year's festival will run until June 24th.