China's first true national park, Qinghai Sanjiangyuan National Park, reveals its vastness and clarity under the lens. A newly adult snow leopard failed several times to hunt blue sheep, and its attempt to sneak attack a herdsman's yak also failed. It turned to smaller marmots and finally filled its stomach. Later, wolves, black-necked cranes, and Tibetan antelopes appeared...
"First of all, congratulations! The material and footage are very shocking, and there is unlimited potential for international distribution. Europeans love animals very much, especially China's giant pandas, so I I feel that your entry point has captured the pulse of the market." At the proposal meeting, after watching the clips of the documentary series "Miracle in the National Parks", Mar Montana Riera, a decision-maker from the Mediterranean European Documentary Market, expressed his opinions on the film The landforms of the Central Qinghai-Tibet Plateau are amazing.
The 20th China (Guangzhou) International Documentary Film Festival (hereinafter referred to as the "Guangzhou Festival") will open on December 4, 2023. In the Shangri-La Hotel, guests with different hair colors and skin colors shuttled through various conference halls and outdoor lawns, participating in forum lectures, watching film screenings, or sitting in groups of twos and threes in the lobby to chat.
Senior industry insiders from multiple documentary production platforms such as BBC Studios, NHK, and KBS, as well as representatives from six festivals including Sheffield International Documentary Festival, New Zealand Winger Film Festival, and Mediterranean European Documentary Market, attended the event. .
It was the first time for NHK director Akiko Inoue, who has been in the industry for fourteen years, to participate in such a meeting. In the past, her interactions with colleagues were always of a personal nature. She said she felt very happy because if she had not come here, there would be many people she would never have met in her life. As one of the decision-makers of the proposal meeting, after intensively watching the latest Chinese works, her impression is, "The images of Chinese documentaries are very beautiful, more beautiful than those of Japan. I think you may pay attention to this aspect. Your themes are different from those of Japan." It’s the same, but very relatable.”
After four years, Dutch-Chinese international producer Zhao Jia came to the festival again. In her eyes, participating in the festival is not only to watch films and select projects, but also to gather with documentarians from all over the world. It is also an important motivation. The epidemic has brought about a large period of blank time. People who did not hug each other in the past must hug each other when they meet again. "Cross-cultural production is more difficult, because if you don't move around, there will be a barrier."
Overseas audiences' expectations for the subject matter of Chinese documentaries are changing. The picture shows a still from the documentary "My AI Lover", which won the China Story Outstanding Documentary Short Award at the 20th Guangzhou International Documentary Festival. Data chart
What overseas audiences are interested in
The documentary proposal "Tian Nian" made Zhao Jia, who was sitting in the audience, shed tears. The four Kochi elderly people in a nursing home in Wuhan talked about and faced life and death in a humorous manner, which reminded her of her parents. She deliberately wrote down one of the subtitles: "If you don't know life, how can you know death?" The British decision-maker next to her also wrote the same key sentence in English.
In December 2023, a total of 22 documentary projects entered the final review process and participated in the "Chinese Story" Proposal Conference of the Guangzhou Festival. "Copy Lover" is the only film to win two international selection proposals from French Cat&docs Distribution Company and Austrian Outlook Distribution Company. Alexandra Derevyanko, the former’s copyright salesperson, said: “90% of our buyers are asking us if we have any works about AI.”
The film is about four Chinese women and their The story of Replica (an artificial intelligence chat application) lovers, director Liang Chouwa himself has experienced the love between man and machine. When the proposal was presented, the film was almost unanimously praised by decision-makers at home and abroad. Whether they realize it or not, everyone admits that the emotion between people and virtual people is a social phenomenon that is happening at the moment.
's another AI-themed proposal, "Self-Help Guide in the AI Era," is planned to be produced into a 6-episode series focusing on AI-related hot topics such as privacy and security, ethics, work and employment, education and teaching, information cocoon rooms, and emotional companionship.
Wei Keran, the silver-haired vice president of Discovery Media Group, has worked with many young Asian directors. He appreciates that this proposal integrates the docudrama format (Editor's note: refers to a form that combines documentary and drama) into creation.The practice of mixing different themes makes him feel that "it may be an optimistic version of "Black Mirror"".
Public figures who have caused public outcry in China have also entered the international spotlight. In 2020, Pang Mailang, a grassroots singer who had disappeared for a long time, once again attracted public attention due to his diagnosis of schizophrenia. Li Shiyu, a senior graduate, met him, recorded and accompanied him through this period of being coerced.
After listening to the director's narration, Boris Mitik, a decision-maker from Serbia, remembered a similar person in his country who became famous when he was young. Someone made a film for him. In the process, he also gained a lot of attention and Sympathy, "We are all outsiders and want to cheer up these people who are at their lowest point."
"The Shaking World" was a hit at the International Documentary Festival. Following this film, director Fan Jian once again entered the world of poet Yu Xiuhua. After the divorce, Yu Xiuhua experienced a love adventure - falling in love with a fan who was 14 years younger than her. There was sweetness but also violence. After the two broke up, the poet faced the loss of himself alone. The camera recorded it all.
Christine Huelard Can from France put it directly: "I think this theme is very good. It is a very strong video. I would like to have further exchanges with you later. If you hope to impress the French audience, it is up to you. The way of presentation."
Some Chinese documentaries explore social topics that have resonated with international decision-makers. "Where to Settlement" is aimed at reverse immigrants who have fled big cities and settled in small towns. Jelena Taskvoski from the British distribution company Taskvoski Films lamented: "Human beings are becoming more and more crazy, pursuing fame and fortune, and squandering money." Time." In November 2020, a survey by a British consulting company showed that more than 40% of residents of European big cities want to escape big cities and move to smaller cities, especially Londoners.
Zhang Li, deputy secretary-general of the Standing Office of the Guangzhou Festival Organizing Committee, told Southern Weekend reporters that in 2023, a supporting closed-door meeting will be set up for the first time in addition to the proposal meeting, "to see if it can be more direct."
In the closed-door meeting of the topic selection committee of "Beauty and Beauty", Japan's NHK director Akiko Inoue prepared an A4 paper for each guest. On it was written the content that NHK is concerned about, such as aging, environmental protection, AI, architecture, China Wildlife in national parks. Wang Shijun, deputy director of Guangdong Satellite TV Channel, said that his biggest gain that day was this piece of paper. Only after participating in a closed-door meeting did he know that there were these international needs.
"If possible, we need an online communication platform. This is very simple in China. We can just form a group." said Wang Lijun, director of the Documentary Center of Shanghai Radio and Television Station. As the meeting came to an end, the foreign host greeted the guests present: "My first advice to everyone coming to China is to install WeChat."
"Can we come together?"
Zhao Jia in the producer emba class , revealed that in 2023, a project jointly produced by CCTV and Germany's Channel 2 has just been promoted. It tells the story of the changes in the perception and understanding of "time" in different civilizations. It is currently entering the editing stage.
Thirty years ago, Zhao Jia left China and first went to Japan to study. Now he has lived in Europe for more than 20 years. As a "foreigner in China", she is dedicated to telling and conveying Chinese or Asian stories, hoping to "balance the world's perspective." She has been seeking opportunities to cooperate with Chinese official organizations and selectively create projects of mixed Chinese and foreign origins.
When the German plan came to her, looking at the Asian part that had yet to be filled in, she said: "You guys are talking about time. The Chinese people's view of time is very unique. Can we do it together?" The German side felt that , this topic selection can indeed bring out some aspects of China that the German audience is not familiar with, and the Chinese side is also interested. It is rare for Chinese stories to be placed in an international context. In the end, Chinese festivals and Taoist interpretations of time were integrated into the film, accounting for about one-third of the film.
It is a joint production of Chinese and foreign public television stations, which is very difficult. This is also the first time that Zhao Jia has promoted the joint production of the two. The two parties worked together for more than half a year before finalizing the details of the contract.
China's first true national park, Qinghai Sanjiangyuan National Park, reveals its vastness and clarity under the lens. A newly adult snow leopard failed several times to hunt blue sheep, and its attempt to sneak attack a herdsman's yak also failed. It turned to smaller marmots and finally filled its stomach. Later, wolves, black-necked cranes, and Tibetan antelopes appeared...
"First of all, congratulations! The material and footage are very shocking, and there is unlimited potential for international distribution. Europeans love animals very much, especially China's giant pandas, so I I feel that your entry point has captured the pulse of the market." At the proposal meeting, after watching the clips of the documentary series "Miracle in the National Parks", Mar Montana Riera, a decision-maker from the Mediterranean European Documentary Market, expressed his opinions on the film The landforms of the Central Qinghai-Tibet Plateau are amazing.
The 20th China (Guangzhou) International Documentary Film Festival (hereinafter referred to as the "Guangzhou Festival") will open on December 4, 2023. In the Shangri-La Hotel, guests with different hair colors and skin colors shuttled through various conference halls and outdoor lawns, participating in forum lectures, watching film screenings, or sitting in groups of twos and threes in the lobby to chat.
Senior industry insiders from multiple documentary production platforms such as BBC Studios, NHK, and KBS, as well as representatives from six festivals including Sheffield International Documentary Festival, New Zealand Winger Film Festival, and Mediterranean European Documentary Market, attended the event. .
It was the first time for NHK director Akiko Inoue, who has been in the industry for fourteen years, to participate in such a meeting. In the past, her interactions with colleagues were always of a personal nature. She said she felt very happy because if she had not come here, there would be many people she would never have met in her life. As one of the decision-makers of the proposal meeting, after intensively watching the latest Chinese works, her impression is, "The images of Chinese documentaries are very beautiful, more beautiful than those of Japan. I think you may pay attention to this aspect. Your themes are different from those of Japan." It’s the same, but very relatable.”
After four years, Dutch-Chinese international producer Zhao Jia came to the festival again. In her eyes, participating in the festival is not only to watch films and select projects, but also to gather with documentarians from all over the world. It is also an important motivation. The epidemic has brought about a large period of blank time. People who did not hug each other in the past must hug each other when they meet again. "Cross-cultural production is more difficult, because if you don't move around, there will be a barrier."
Overseas audiences' expectations for the subject matter of Chinese documentaries are changing. The picture shows a still from the documentary "My AI Lover", which won the China Story Outstanding Documentary Short Award at the 20th Guangzhou International Documentary Festival. Data chart
What overseas audiences are interested in
The documentary proposal "Tian Nian" made Zhao Jia, who was sitting in the audience, shed tears. The four Kochi elderly people in a nursing home in Wuhan talked about and faced life and death in a humorous manner, which reminded her of her parents. She deliberately wrote down one of the subtitles: "If you don't know life, how can you know death?" The British decision-maker next to her also wrote the same key sentence in English.
In December 2023, a total of 22 documentary projects entered the final review process and participated in the "Chinese Story" Proposal Conference of the Guangzhou Festival. "Copy Lover" is the only film to win two international selection proposals from French Cat&docs Distribution Company and Austrian Outlook Distribution Company. Alexandra Derevyanko, the former’s copyright salesperson, said: “90% of our buyers are asking us if we have any works about AI.”
The film is about four Chinese women and their The story of Replica (an artificial intelligence chat application) lovers, director Liang Chouwa himself has experienced the love between man and machine. When the proposal was presented, the film was almost unanimously praised by decision-makers at home and abroad. Whether they realize it or not, everyone admits that the emotion between people and virtual people is a social phenomenon that is happening at the moment.
's another AI-themed proposal, "Self-Help Guide in the AI Era," is planned to be produced into a 6-episode series focusing on AI-related hot topics such as privacy and security, ethics, work and employment, education and teaching, information cocoon rooms, and emotional companionship.
Wei Keran, the silver-haired vice president of Discovery Media Group, has worked with many young Asian directors. He appreciates that this proposal integrates the docudrama format (Editor's note: refers to a form that combines documentary and drama) into creation.The practice of mixing different themes makes him feel that "it may be an optimistic version of "Black Mirror"".
Public figures who have caused public outcry in China have also entered the international spotlight. In 2020, Pang Mailang, a grassroots singer who had disappeared for a long time, once again attracted public attention due to his diagnosis of schizophrenia. Li Shiyu, a senior graduate, met him, recorded and accompanied him through this period of being coerced.
After listening to the director's narration, Boris Mitik, a decision-maker from Serbia, remembered a similar person in his country who became famous when he was young. Someone made a film for him. In the process, he also gained a lot of attention and Sympathy, "We are all outsiders and want to cheer up these people who are at their lowest point."
"The Shaking World" was a hit at the International Documentary Festival. Following this film, director Fan Jian once again entered the world of poet Yu Xiuhua. After the divorce, Yu Xiuhua experienced a love adventure - falling in love with a fan who was 14 years younger than her. There was sweetness but also violence. After the two broke up, the poet faced the loss of himself alone. The camera recorded it all.
Christine Huelard Can from France put it directly: "I think this theme is very good. It is a very strong video. I would like to have further exchanges with you later. If you hope to impress the French audience, it is up to you. The way of presentation."
Some Chinese documentaries explore social topics that have resonated with international decision-makers. "Where to Settlement" is aimed at reverse immigrants who have fled big cities and settled in small towns. Jelena Taskvoski from the British distribution company Taskvoski Films lamented: "Human beings are becoming more and more crazy, pursuing fame and fortune, and squandering money." Time." In November 2020, a survey by a British consulting company showed that more than 40% of residents of European big cities want to escape big cities and move to smaller cities, especially Londoners.
Zhang Li, deputy secretary-general of the Standing Office of the Guangzhou Festival Organizing Committee, told Southern Weekend reporters that in 2023, a supporting closed-door meeting will be set up for the first time in addition to the proposal meeting, "to see if it can be more direct."
In the closed-door meeting of the topic selection committee of "Beauty and Beauty", Japan's NHK director Akiko Inoue prepared an A4 paper for each guest. On it was written the content that NHK is concerned about, such as aging, environmental protection, AI, architecture, China Wildlife in national parks. Wang Shijun, deputy director of Guangdong Satellite TV Channel, said that his biggest gain that day was this piece of paper. Only after participating in a closed-door meeting did he know that there were these international needs.
"If possible, we need an online communication platform. This is very simple in China. We can just form a group." said Wang Lijun, director of the Documentary Center of Shanghai Radio and Television Station. As the meeting came to an end, the foreign host greeted the guests present: "My first advice to everyone coming to China is to install WeChat."
"Can we come together?"
Zhao Jia in the producer emba class , revealed that in 2023, a project jointly produced by CCTV and Germany's Channel 2 has just been promoted. It tells the story of the changes in the perception and understanding of "time" in different civilizations. It is currently entering the editing stage.
Thirty years ago, Zhao Jia left China and first went to Japan to study. Now he has lived in Europe for more than 20 years. As a "foreigner in China", she is dedicated to telling and conveying Chinese or Asian stories, hoping to "balance the world's perspective." She has been seeking opportunities to cooperate with Chinese official organizations and selectively create projects of mixed Chinese and foreign origins.
When the German plan came to her, looking at the Asian part that had yet to be filled in, she said: "You guys are talking about time. The Chinese people's view of time is very unique. Can we do it together?" The German side felt that , this topic selection can indeed bring out some aspects of China that the German audience is not familiar with, and the Chinese side is also interested. It is rare for Chinese stories to be placed in an international context. In the end, Chinese festivals and Taoist interpretations of time were integrated into the film, accounting for about one-third of the film.
It is a joint production of Chinese and foreign public television stations, which is very difficult. This is also the first time that Zhao Jia has promoted the joint production of the two. The two parties worked together for more than half a year before finalizing the details of the contract.The difference in cultural context also increases the cost of communication. CCTV went to Wudang Mountain for six days to shoot. "The Taoist priest in Wudang Mountain had a conversation. The German director had to digest the analysis and understanding of this thing. For him, It’s a more strenuous matter.”
In the closed-door meeting of the topic selection committee, participants from domestic TV stations and video platforms clearly stated that they hope to have more joint production possibilities. The cooperation method of entrusting foreign teams to produce is "already an old story."
"Now the time is very mature. After paying some tuition fees and making some non-reciprocal attempts, everyone can conclude that this is actually not what we want." Zhao Jia feels that this kind of appeal was made four years ago There are traces to follow, but the epidemic has delayed its implementation.
For a long time, the subjects of documentaries on China have been foreigners. In the 1970s, there was a small climax of Westerners coming to China to shoot documentaries. Among them, "China" by Italian director Antonioni had a wide influence and was the most controversial. It is often compared with "The Foolish Old Man Moves the Mountains" shot by Dutch director Ivens. In the early 1980s, CCTV and NHK jointly produced "Silk Road", which can be regarded as the earliest international attempt for Chinese TV documentaries. Another peak since then was "Watching the Great Wall", a collaboration between CCTV and TBS in the early 1990s. At this stage of co-production, the Chinese side mainly provides logistical and administrative support, arranges accommodation and transportation for the foreign film crew, and helps obtain government permission to ensure the filming is completed.
In 2001, after China joined the WTO, the international community became curious about China as it entered the process of globalization. Foreign audiences began to think about why they could only see China from the perspective of foreigners. An increasing number of overseas Chinese also questioned that this might not be the case. The real China.
When international cooperation is carried out at the level of cultural exchanges, countries with wider cultural spans will have greater difficulty in cooperation. "So it is easy for China to cooperate with NHK, or the volume is relatively large," Zhao Jia explained. "If we want to cooperate beyond Asia, we will definitely have to choose from here that audiences who are far away are also interested in knowing. So this is actually a process of joint selection and creation."
Akiko Inoue and several other partners are currently the only documentary team in NHK TV station that works closely with China. She studied abroad at the Shanghai Theater Academy and wanted to create a program for exchanges between China and Japan.
The documentary about giant panda Xiang Xiang traveling in Japan will be broadcast soon. As a Japanese director, Akiko Inoue told Southern Weekend reporters that she would not have been able to make this film without cooperating with the creative staff of CCTV. Panda Xiangxiang, who was born in Tokyo and has lived in Japan for five years, returned to China in February 2023. During this process, both China and Japan had film teams filming in their own countries.
After Xiangxiang returned to China, she was a little "acclimatized". The Japanese wanted to know how the Chinese breeders responded, but CCTV was not allowed to enter Xiangxiang's "boudoir", so they gave the camera to the breeders. Xiangxiang curiously approached the camera, munched on the bamboo specially prepared for her, and lay down obediently while enjoying the massage from the keeper. These scenes were all captured on film.
"(This) is something I wouldn't have thought of if only the Japanese did it. They shoot very well and know how to shoot under China's conditions." Japanese content, such as the clip of fans bidding farewell to Xiangxiang in tears, is It was Inoue who led the Japanese shooting team to capture it, "because I understand the Japanese environment and the mood of the Japanese people."
"Emotions require more noun backgrounds to experience"
Before photographing giant pandas, Akiko Inoue also worked with China The audience for some historical and food documentaries is limited to a small number of people who are interested in China, such as "Go Home!" "Panda Princess Xiangxiang" is planned to be broadcast on NHK during prime time.
At the proposal meeting for the Guangzhou Festival, Akiko Inoue saw many Chinese documentaries that went beyond the stereotypes. She was deeply impressed by "The God of Eternal Love", which tells the story of a blind date between elderly people in Shanghai. She recalled that there are many documentaries in Japan that film ordinary people in public places such as restaurants for a long period of time. "The stories of ordinary people do not differ by country. We Japanese watch China's past (documentaries), nature, and ancient history, but the films I watched today are not like that. So we have more opportunities to cooperate."But she also said that it is difficult to promote this kind of cooperation to a larger scale. "Foreigners like traditional Chinese (things)."
Compared with the development of social and humanistic themes in documentary films, this series is more industrialized In the field of documentaries, international communication shows a different scene.
“We want to make more films that are in line with our Eastern culture and have diverse expressions that can be disseminated. Ning Yuqi, director of iQiyi Documentary Center, told Southern Weekend reporters, "Knowledge is a noun, which is easy to communicate. Society is an adjective, which describes your inner emotions. This emotion requires more noun background to understand." . "
producer Zhang Bo is mainly responsible for the international joint production of documentaries at Bilibili, and has cooperated with major documentary platforms on all continents. His impression is that China is a natural, adventurous, engineering wonder, and cutting-edge technology Documentaries are more popular. "These themes are less or less affected by differences in language, culture, society, and ideology. They do not need to be transferred through context and can reach international audiences very well and directly. "
Looking back at the foreign documentaries introduced in recent years, there are fewer historical and food-themed ones. "It is difficult for many foreign food programs to be recognized by domestic audiences." More than ten years ago, he often produced a type of pan-documentary program ——Foreign hosts with a certain professional or industry background come to China to experience the impact of the cultural differences between the East and the West, and try to combine the views and practices of the East and the West in the same field to achieve innovation. Nowadays, there are fewer and fewer such programs.
"If you take this matter overseas, I think there are still a large number of media or viewers whose understanding of China is still the same as it was ten years ago. Even if you continue to broadcast Panda, Kung Fu, The Great Wall, and Face Changing to them, They will still find it interesting. Because the programs they can see about China are indeed relatively limited. "Zhang Bo told Southern Weekend reporters.
Zhao Jia explained: "China's international demand is to tell its own story vividly and in the way it wants to present it, using mainstream media as the 'spine' (output) , the history is relatively short. "Compared with documentary films, the
series of documentaries is less flexible, and cooperation consumes much more resources, but its communication power is considerable. Zhao Jia believes that the two can complement each other: "The audience that can be reached through the film festival, It is another different level, and the form of Chinese stories brought out by more personal stories is also different; TV is a mainstream media, covering a wide range of people, and the audience is not the top of the pyramid, but more of the masses. . "
During the 2020 COVID-19 epidemic, the BBC launched a 58-minute documentary "Du Fu: China's Greatest Poet", which showed the ups and downs of this Eastern poet's life to Western audiences from a Western perspective. Narration in the film "There are Dante, Shakespeare, and Du Fu in the world." To match Du Fu's status, the BBC also invited national treasure actor Ian McKellen, who plays Gandalf in "The Lord of the Rings," to use Shakespeare's deep and elegant The opera recited Du Fu's translated poems such as "Dream of Li Bai" and "Spring Hope".
After the documentary was broadcast, some viewers said that the film opened their horizons and allowed them to understand the Chinese poetic tradition that they had little knowledge of before. .Some people even wrote to director Mike Wood asking where to buy the English version of Du Fu's poetry collection.
"There are more reflections on life as a human being"
At a roundtable discussion with international publishers, French copyright sales Alexander Della was asked: “In today’s market environment and trends, which films stand out? "
" In the past few years, we have noticed that on platforms such as Netflix and Amazon, people are more interested in crime-type feature films, while there seem to be relatively few types that record social issues," Alexandra said with regret." I think this trend is also harmful to the development of creative documentaries. ” Chen Lingzhen, co-founder of
cnex and international producer, has often talked about the oversupply of the documentary market in recent years.She told Southern Weekend reporters that documentaries jointly produced by China and foreign countries have good overseas dissemination effect and are often award-winning works in film festivals.
A typical example is "Young Xiao Zhao" directed by Du Haibin and co-produced with France, which was broadcast on French TV and also screened in art cinemas. The film records the four-year life of Xiao Zhao, a young man from Shanxi, from high school to college. After experiencing a series of events such as teaching in Daliangshan, the death of his grandfather, and the demolition of his home, Xiao Zhao's spiritual world has changed. "It has a very good profile of contemporary Chinese society, and it will be rewarding for the audience, as if they are from China, know a young Chinese friend like this, and see some of the confusion and joy in his life. ."
"People who watch documentaries must have more reflections on life as a human being to a certain extent. Especially those who watch social and humanities documentaries, they are also more concerned about the situation of people in other places." For Chen Lingzhen understands why documentary audiences care about the stories of people in strange countries.
For Chinese audiences, the visibility of foreign documentary feature films may be even lower, and most of them can only be seen at international film festivals. Shen Yun, a documentary enthusiast who has read more than a thousand films, recalled that among the foreign documentaries that have entered theaters and attracted widespread attention in recent years, there is only one Oscar-winning film, "Freehand Rock Climbing."
Referring to internationally popular Chinese-themed documentaries, Bae Ki-hyung, a documentary global production expert from the Korean Broadcasting Corporation (KBS), gave "American Factory" as an example to Southern Weekend reporters: "Because it is released on Netflix, many people can watch it , and also won the Oscar for Best Documentary." "American Factory" is a completely different type of film from "Young Zhao" in terms of narrative and shooting techniques. It has a lot of discussion about the labor system and investment environment in China and the United States. , although it has not been released in China, it has still attracted widespread attention.
"For people curious about social governance, culture and politics, or simply trying to understand a rapidly changing world, documentaries build a global community of interest. So there are more subjects than just science or nature to offer that have an important impact on our lives A new understanding of the world, that is, human-centered documentaries, culture, art and history." Bae Ki-hyung said.
Whether a documentary is international depends both on the story itself and how it is told. Many overseas readers report that "A Dream of Red Mansions" is difficult to get into at the beginning, with hundreds of characters being dazzling. In their reading experience, a novel often only has a few main characters. Similarly, when documentaries are disseminated internationally, the acceptance threshold for group portrait stories is higher.
Chen Lingzhen once tried to promote the domestically produced "Refining Love" overseas, but it was not favored by foreign film selectors. After watching this documentary with five Chinese female characters, some people reported that they felt that they had not had time to fully understand it. Whoever the characters are in the film is the end of the story, and this kind of "face blindness" basically does not happen to domestic audiences.
Zhao Jia’s experience is similar. When working on international productions, she and Chen Lingzhen usually work with foreign editors or at least editors who are familiar with foreign countries. In a mixed team, the Chinese director maintains an internal perspective to prevent the story from being distorted, and editors with different cultural backgrounds are responsible for better telling the story.
In 2019, Zhao Jia served as co-producer of the documentary "Looking at the Stars", which filmed China's haze control. At that time, there were more than a dozen meeting scene materials. The Dutch editor took a look and found that although some meetings covered different issues, they did not constitute progression in the plot, so they made a sharp choice. "But this needs to be done together with the director, otherwise it may not be cut." Zhao Jia added.
Chen Lingzhen’s attitude towards “documentaries going overseas” is not to be anxious, “We have rich cultural resources and interesting stories. These are all good and we can continue to do them. But what I want to say is, in addition to When it comes to external communication, we ourselves still have many aspects that need internal reflection. We hope that Chinese people can also watch more thought-provoking documentaries."
(Shen Yun is a pseudonym.Southern Weekend reporter Yu Yaqin, interns Chen Quanxin and Liu Yuanyuan also contributed to this article)
Southern Weekend reporter Zhu Yuan
editor-in-chief Liu Youxiang
"But she also said that it is difficult to promote this kind of cooperation to a larger scale. "Foreigners like traditional Chinese (things)."Compared with the development of social and humanistic themes in documentary films, this series is more industrialized In the field of documentaries, international communication shows a different scene.
“We want to make more films that are in line with our Eastern culture and have diverse expressions that can be disseminated. Ning Yuqi, director of iQiyi Documentary Center, told Southern Weekend reporters, "Knowledge is a noun, which is easy to communicate. Society is an adjective, which describes your inner emotions. This emotion requires more noun background to understand." . "
producer Zhang Bo is mainly responsible for the international joint production of documentaries at Bilibili, and has cooperated with major documentary platforms on all continents. His impression is that China is a natural, adventurous, engineering wonder, and cutting-edge technology Documentaries are more popular. "These themes are less or less affected by differences in language, culture, society, and ideology. They do not need to be transferred through context and can reach international audiences very well and directly. "
Looking back at the foreign documentaries introduced in recent years, there are fewer historical and food-themed ones. "It is difficult for many foreign food programs to be recognized by domestic audiences." More than ten years ago, he often produced a type of pan-documentary program ——Foreign hosts with a certain professional or industry background come to China to experience the impact of the cultural differences between the East and the West, and try to combine the views and practices of the East and the West in the same field to achieve innovation. Nowadays, there are fewer and fewer such programs.
"If you take this matter overseas, I think there are still a large number of media or viewers whose understanding of China is still the same as it was ten years ago. Even if you continue to broadcast Panda, Kung Fu, The Great Wall, and Face Changing to them, They will still find it interesting. Because the programs they can see about China are indeed relatively limited. "Zhang Bo told Southern Weekend reporters.
Zhao Jia explained: "China's international demand is to tell its own story vividly and in the way it wants to present it, using mainstream media as the 'spine' (output) , the history is relatively short. "Compared with documentary films, the
series of documentaries is less flexible, and cooperation consumes much more resources, but its communication power is considerable. Zhao Jia believes that the two can complement each other: "The audience that can be reached through the film festival, It is another different level, and the form of Chinese stories brought out by more personal stories is also different; TV is a mainstream media, covering a wide range of people, and the audience is not the top of the pyramid, but more of the masses. . "
During the 2020 COVID-19 epidemic, the BBC launched a 58-minute documentary "Du Fu: China's Greatest Poet", which showed the ups and downs of this Eastern poet's life to Western audiences from a Western perspective. Narration in the film "There are Dante, Shakespeare, and Du Fu in the world." To match Du Fu's status, the BBC also invited national treasure actor Ian McKellen, who plays Gandalf in "The Lord of the Rings," to use Shakespeare's deep and elegant The opera recited Du Fu's translated poems such as "Dream of Li Bai" and "Spring Hope".
After the documentary was broadcast, some viewers said that the film opened their horizons and allowed them to understand the Chinese poetic tradition that they had little knowledge of before. .Some people even wrote to director Mike Wood asking where to buy the English version of Du Fu's poetry collection.
"There are more reflections on life as a human being"
At a roundtable discussion with international publishers, French copyright sales Alexander Della was asked: “In today’s market environment and trends, which films stand out? "
" In the past few years, we have noticed that on platforms such as Netflix and Amazon, people are more interested in crime-type feature films, while there seem to be relatively few types that record social issues," Alexandra said with regret." I think this trend is also harmful to the development of creative documentaries. ” Chen Lingzhen, co-founder of
cnex and international producer, has often talked about the oversupply of the documentary market in recent years.She told Southern Weekend reporters that documentaries jointly produced by China and foreign countries have good overseas dissemination effect and are often award-winning works in film festivals.
A typical example is "Young Xiao Zhao" directed by Du Haibin and co-produced with France, which was broadcast on French TV and also screened in art cinemas. The film records the four-year life of Xiao Zhao, a young man from Shanxi, from high school to college. After experiencing a series of events such as teaching in Daliangshan, the death of his grandfather, and the demolition of his home, Xiao Zhao's spiritual world has changed. "It has a very good profile of contemporary Chinese society, and it will be rewarding for the audience, as if they are from China, know a young Chinese friend like this, and see some of the confusion and joy in his life. ."
"People who watch documentaries must have more reflections on life as a human being to a certain extent. Especially those who watch social and humanities documentaries, they are also more concerned about the situation of people in other places." For Chen Lingzhen understands why documentary audiences care about the stories of people in strange countries.
For Chinese audiences, the visibility of foreign documentary feature films may be even lower, and most of them can only be seen at international film festivals. Shen Yun, a documentary enthusiast who has read more than a thousand films, recalled that among the foreign documentaries that have entered theaters and attracted widespread attention in recent years, there is only one Oscar-winning film, "Freehand Rock Climbing."
Referring to internationally popular Chinese-themed documentaries, Bae Ki-hyung, a documentary global production expert from the Korean Broadcasting Corporation (KBS), gave "American Factory" as an example to Southern Weekend reporters: "Because it is released on Netflix, many people can watch it , and also won the Oscar for Best Documentary." "American Factory" is a completely different type of film from "Young Zhao" in terms of narrative and shooting techniques. It has a lot of discussion about the labor system and investment environment in China and the United States. , although it has not been released in China, it has still attracted widespread attention.
"For people curious about social governance, culture and politics, or simply trying to understand a rapidly changing world, documentaries build a global community of interest. So there are more subjects than just science or nature to offer that have an important impact on our lives A new understanding of the world, that is, human-centered documentaries, culture, art and history." Bae Ki-hyung said.
Whether a documentary is international depends both on the story itself and how it is told. Many overseas readers report that "A Dream of Red Mansions" is difficult to get into at the beginning, with hundreds of characters being dazzling. In their reading experience, a novel often only has a few main characters. Similarly, when documentaries are disseminated internationally, the acceptance threshold for group portrait stories is higher.
Chen Lingzhen once tried to promote the domestically produced "Refining Love" overseas, but it was not favored by foreign film selectors. After watching this documentary with five Chinese female characters, some people reported that they felt that they had not had time to fully understand it. Whoever the characters are in the film is the end of the story, and this kind of "face blindness" basically does not happen to domestic audiences.
Zhao Jia’s experience is similar. When working on international productions, she and Chen Lingzhen usually work with foreign editors or at least editors who are familiar with foreign countries. In a mixed team, the Chinese director maintains an internal perspective to prevent the story from being distorted, and editors with different cultural backgrounds are responsible for better telling the story.
In 2019, Zhao Jia served as co-producer of the documentary "Looking at the Stars", which filmed China's haze control. At that time, there were more than a dozen meeting scene materials. The Dutch editor took a look and found that although some meetings covered different issues, they did not constitute progression in the plot, so they made a sharp choice. "But this needs to be done together with the director, otherwise it may not be cut." Zhao Jia added.
Chen Lingzhen’s attitude towards “documentaries going overseas” is not to be anxious, “We have rich cultural resources and interesting stories. These are all good and we can continue to do them. But what I want to say is, in addition to When it comes to external communication, we ourselves still have many aspects that need internal reflection. We hope that Chinese people can also watch more thought-provoking documentaries."
(Shen Yun is a pseudonym.Southern Weekend reporter Yu Yaqin, interns Chen Quanxin and Liu Yuanyuan also contributed to this article)
Southern Weekend reporter Zhu Yuan
editor-in-chief Liu Youxiang
