Jia Zhangke'S "Leaving" Pingyao Film Festival: A Terminated Marketing Experiment

Jia Zhangke, this is a vague and distinct person.

He has many identities. He is a director, deputy to the National People's Congress, founder, producer, screenwriter, legal representative of the enterprise, and Dean of the college. This means that Jia Zhangke has a lot of considerations, looking for balance in the complexity, just like one of his films.

"This may be the last Pingyao International Film Exhibition that our team did. It is very urgent to leave early, cultivate new team early, and let it obtain independent vitality. We choose to leave when it's strong. " On October 18, the night before the closing of the fourth Pingyao International Film Festival, Jia Zhangke said at a sudden press conference. The day before, he was walking with Lian Yirui, the chief designer of Pingyao film palace, to recall the pain and joy of the construction.

Recently, Jia Zhangke is a little tired. 21st century economic reporter has met him countless times in Pingyao, with prominent bags under his eyes and drooping eyebrows. "We dare not ask him why." People close to Jia Zhangke's team said that they were also surprised by the "exit" decision.

Among the more than 50 films exhibited in five official units such as "Crouching Tiger", "Tibetan dragon" and "Premiere", 43.4% were global premieres, 88.7% were Asian premieres, and the premiere rate in China was 100%. This is the achievement of this year's Pingyao Film Festival. In addition, this year's Pingyao Film Festival has achieved 100% market-oriented operation.

risk

In fact, it has always been a high probability event that the Pingyao Film Festival was finally accepted by the government.

Up to now, domestic mainstream international film festivals, including Beijing, Shanghai, Changchun and the Silk Road, have been hosted by government agencies. The relatively broken Xining first youth film exhibition has always been in an ambiguous area. A film exhibition held in Chengdu this year was cancelled during the holding period.

Pingyao Film Festival is the real exception. Before that, Shanxi government summarized the Pingyao film exhibition mode as "government guidance, filmmaker hosting and market operation". It is reflected in the fact that the Pingyao County Government has provided all infrastructure investment and 10 million level subsidy for the film festival (which has been cancelled this year), and Jia Zhangke's team is responsible for the operation.

"We originally had a national art film screening Alliance Plan, and Pingyao film exhibition was an important part of it. The art films that participated in the film exhibition could be continuously distributed in the art film industry system. The promotion of the alliance plan was relatively slow, so Pingyao film exhibition was held first. " In an exclusive interview earlier, Marco Muller, artistic director of Pingyao International Film Festival, told the 21st century economic reporter. As an internationally renowned curator, Marco Muller is the longest serving president of the Venice International Film Festival. In addition, he has successively served as the president of the film festivals of Pesaro (1982-1989), Rotterdam (1989-1991) and locano (1992-2000). He has been awarded the "State Council honorary award" by the Chinese government.

The choice of Pingyao is accidental and inevitable. Mark Muller admitted that he had considered Fenyang (Jia Zhangke's hometown), but finally settled in Pingyao.

On the one hand, it is the talent of Pingyao, on the other hand, it is also the efforts of the local government. Wang zaipan, chairman of the board of directors of 90% cultural tourism investment, is the intermediary. In 2016, Jia Zhangke expressed to Pingyao County Government through Wang zaipan the idea of settling down the film exhibition. Subsequently, the county and municipal governments cooperated, and the project was soon implemented. Marco Mueller revealed that preparations for the film festival had already begun in 2015.

Local governments directly position themselves as "service roles". "If the government manages too much and invests too much, the festival work will not go on. It must be gradually market-oriented and market-oriented. Only in this way can it have more vitality and the market will play a decisive role." Hou Shijun, director of Pingyao Tourism Development Commission, told reporters.

According to a number of local government sources, Pingyao County government is much weaker than Jia Zhangke's team. This also explains that when Jia Zhangke announced his withdrawal from the film festival, local government officials expressed their "no knowledge" to the outside world.

It is the provincial government that has more contact with Jia Zhangke. During the 2018 Pingyao Film Festival, Luo Huining, then Secretary of the Shanxi provincial Party committee, personally came to Pingyao to investigate the film festival. "It (Pingyao film exhibition) has become a new business card for deepening Shanxi's all-round opening-up, and has also driven the integrated development of Shanxi's cultural and tourism industry." Luo Huining said in the investigation. Luo Huining came to Beijing at the end of 2019 and is now the director of the Liaison Office of the central government in Hong Kong.

Based on the current environment, for Jia Zhangke, he has never been the actual owner of Pingyao Film Festival. The degree of control over the film exhibition is more based on the degree of mutual trust with relevant departments.

It's possible to come and go.

future

It's not easy to do a film exhibition. It's even hard to make a film.

During this year's Film Festival, Jia Zhangke revealed that he slept for two or three hours a day. In "normal", Zhao Qiutao is his wife.

But why does Jia Zhangke insist? Film is the way out. In this year's Film Festival, some award-winning directors said that without the prize, the project would be difficult to sustain. In the cold winter of the film and television industry, new people are more and more difficult to endure.

The film show gives the outside world the opportunity to see new works, and the trading market encourages financing. Although this year's Pingyao Film Festival trading area, quite cold.

During his stay in Pingyao, the 21st century economic reporter had a long talk with many new directors. Most of them graduated from famous universities and had film dreams. They were young, but they were not confident about project financing.

"Even if it is an exhibition, what can be changed? The probability of coming out is very small. But after all, there are more platforms. " A director confessed.

The difficulties of the film industry are systematic. The semi annual report shows that Beijing culture has a net loss of 64.2983 million yuan, a year-on-year-39.87%; China's film industry has a net loss of 502 million yuan, a year-on-year loss of 173.68%; Huayi Brothers has a net loss of 231 million yuan. According to the performance forecast, Wanda film is expected to lose 1.95-2.05 billion yuan in the first three quarters.

"At present, the film companies have not found a stable revenue channel to smooth the performance." In Pingyao, a senior executive of a listed film company told reporters that he was looking forward to "policies.".

This situation is a vicious circle for new filmmakers. But they are the future of Chinese films.

Jia Zhangke will continue to help the newcomers and has been confirmed to be the president of Shanxi Film Academy. "I hope to organize first-class creative teams, directors, screenwriters, producers, photographers, recording directors, and art directors in China to be such a creative and practical college." He said at the press conference.

A reporter once asked Jia Zhangke who he was with so many identities and goals. He did not answer directly, saying only that efficiency is more important.

Jia Zhangke's "WTO entry" is rare among Chinese directors. This is not without controversy, but this realistic director still focuses on the present in his works and tries to change the present. This is his insistence.