Bridging the Dragon 5th Sino-European Production Seminar at EFM

Bridging the Dragon together with the European Film Market will host for the fifth consecutive year the Sino-European Production Seminar with the aim to give European producers a thorough understanding of the Chinese film industry. This intensive full-day event is scheduled  13 February 2019 at the EFM Producers Hub of the Gropius Bau in Berlin.

It will consist of a series of panel discussions in the morning and a practical roundtable workshop in the afternoon. During the workshop, participants will be able to choose one table where a Chinese expert will answer questions and suggest solutions on a topic or a case study.

There was a networking drinks reception at Josty Feb 12th

Since the association has started its activity five years ago, it has become not only a desire but rather a necessity for European film professionals to confront themselves with  the Chinese film market. Its booming box office which in 2018, for the first time, surpassed North America’s with a record of more than 8,6 billion US dollars, a growing number of screens (by now more than 60.000 against 40.000 in the US) and a need for more and more diverse content hold an inevitable and still unexplored potential for the European film industry. However, for many Europeans the question is still how to approach their counterparts due to the distance in culture, procedures and personal knowledge.

This year’s event will start off with a morning panel moderated by Patrick Frater (Variety) that will offer an overview on the latest movie trends in China to 60 selected European producers. The discussion will analyse the great interest in the acquisition of European titles following the rapid development of the Chinese society. The panel will be featuring Cai Gongming, the CEO of the Beijing distribution company Road Pictures, tracing a case study of the Japanese film Shoplifters and its marketing strategies. The recent Cannes winner, gaining almost 15 million US dollars in Chinese cinemas, contributed to a new frenzy of art-house acquisitions by local buyers.

Following this topic, experienced American lawyer Stephen Saltzman, who oversees negotiations for major mainland distributors like Huayi Brothers, Linmon and Hishow, will give an overview of recent issues between the US and China where acquisitions, deals and MG’s have generally dropped, most likely due to the trade war, new government policies on content and the current prosecution of illicit tax and commercial practices that have created a recent slowdown in film investment.

In the afternoon the participants will have the opportunity for in-depth talks in a series of round table discussions with a number of Chinese and European production experts on topics that are crucial for their current focus on China, spanning from the challenges of developing suitable content and film investment models, to handling line production with Chinese partners. The latter will be elaborated by experienced producer Franck Priot from the French production company Ghost City, recently responsible for the line production of the so far biggest Chinese shooting in France: The TV series Crocodile and Toothpick Bird produced by Mango TV and starring well known faces like Bolin Chen and Crystal Zhang. The debate will cover the growing trend of European locations as background for Chinese movies or TV series which, on the one hand, provides valuable economic resources and promotion of the territory but, on the other hand, creates the need of a new understanding with local crews and service companies. Other afternoon topics are “Script development with a Chinese audience in mind” held by Chen Lizhi from Beijing-based Spire Media as well as “Film co-production models between Europe and China“ led by famous Taiwanese producer Patrick Huang (Flash Forward Entertainment).

From 14th to 15th February, Berlin will also host the second session of Bridging the Dragon’s 4th Sino-European Project Lab which concentrates on the development of content suitable for Sino-European coproduction. After the first session that was held in Beijing last November, the representatives of the 17 film projects from Europe and China will meet again with tutors and producers from both sides in order to further develop their stories and expand professional relationships among the participants. The full-immersive think-tank will involve recognized writing tutors like Li Wei, screenwriter of Zhang Yimou’s recent film Shadow (whose latest film One Second will be part of the Berlinale competition) or famous author and director Dai Sijie (The Chinese Botanist's Daughters).

The selected film projects express a great diversity of genres and production models:

From the adventure comedy The Fake Adventurer from Munich-based production company TV60Film to the animation The Father’s Bomb from the talented Memory Jungle Studio, or the steam-punk fantasy Steam world (Shanghai Te Shen Culture and Communication in cooperation with Base FX Studio). Other highlights are the Irish black comedy Ping Pong (Cowtown Pictures), telling the story of a group of old ladies travelling to China to compete in the world table tennis championship, and the Taiwanese poetic art-house drama Salli, depicting a middle-age chicken farmer’s online romance with an English boyfriend, by Taiwanese Golden Bell award winning director Lien Chien-Hung, who also got selected in this year’s Berlinale Talents program. A special focus will be given to the emerging sector of family entertainment, a program implemented with the support of the Embassy of the Netherlands in China.

Cristiano Bortone, Producer / director and Managing Director of Bridging the Dragon: “What keeps on making the audience excited about movies is the element of surprise. Rules can only partly predict the success of a film. That’s why, in the collaboration between China and the rest of the world, we have to keep exploring different genres and production models, with the conviction that this will generate new and unexpected success stories.”

More information about Bridging the Dragon and the event: www.bridgingthedragon.com