Xinhua Insight: Arthouse movie's melodrama spotlights Chinese film market immaturity

The producer of well-reviewed Chinese arthouse film "Song of the Phoenix" had to literally get down on his knees and beg cinema chains not to pull it from their schedules.

A video of Fang Li's dramatic act has gone viral online, fuelling a dramatic turnaround in the film's fortunes at the box office and highlighting immaturity in a Chinese film market totally dominated by mostly foreign blockbusters.

"Song of the Phoenix" was the last work of acclaimed director Wu Tianming, a favorite of both Hollywood big guns like Martin Scorsese and Ang Lee and Chinese auteurs like Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige. That didn't stop the film from having a very lackluster opening, taking in about 1.54 million yuan (235,000 U.S. dollars) in three days after debuting on May 6.

It didn't help that it was up against superhero flick "Captain America: Civil War," which also opened on May 6 and had grossed 624.3 million yuan by the end of May 9.

That all changed after 63-year-old Fang's very public grovelling on May 12. "Song of the Phoenix," the release of which was delayed by two years while Fang shopped it around for distributors and marketing funding, had made 39 million yuan as of May 17.

"TRUE GIANT" STRUGGLES TO BE SEEN

"Song of the Phoenix" tells the story of an elderly artist who tries to pass on playing of traditional instrument the suona despite its fading popularity.

Wu Tianming died of a heart attack just a month after finishing the film in 2014.

Wu was a leading member of the "Fourth Generation" of Chinese directors, a mentor to the Fifth Generation's Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige, who are known in the West for "Hero" and "Farewell My Concubine" respectively.

"Song of the Phoenix" was highly anticipated long before its release. Oscar winner Ang Lee released a video supporting the film. "In a market where competition is so fierce, it is very thought-provoking to be able to see a film like 'Song of the Phoenix'," he said.

In his own promotional video, Martin Scorsese chimed in, "Wu Tianming was a true giant of cinema."

Domestic movie critics have also applauded the film, which has a score of 8.2 out of 10 on Chinese movie review website douban.com, compared with 7.9 for "Captain America: Civil War."

Despite all this, theaters were reluctant to screen "Song of the Phoenix." Many arthouse film fans complained of not being able to find it showing anywhere.

Before Fang dropped to his knees, industry insiders were forecasting that the film would make no more than five million yuan at the box office.

A cinema manager surnamed Sun in Beijing's Chaoyang District said films were chosen based purely on market expectations. When the latest superhero film can make hundreds of millions of yuan, many arthouse gems don't get a look in.

REAL SOLUTIONS

Fang said he had to rummage through his contact book and exploit all his industry connections to get "Song of the Phoenix" released. When so few people went to see it, he was "driven into a corner," he explained, justifying a viral video many have criticized as a cheap publicity stunt.

Yin Hong, deputy director of Tsinghua University's School of Journalism and Communication, said things won't look up for independent Chinese films until we see some segmentation in the world's second-biggest film market.

The China Film Association classed only 10 of the 300 domestic movies released in Chinese cinemas in 2014 as arthouse.

"A free and competitive market is crucial to stimulate healthy development of the Chinese film market. Meanwhile, the state should provide some flexible support policies for art films," said Liu Jun, a professor with the Beijing Film Academy.

Shanghai has launched a trial program subsidizing the building of dedicated arthouse cinemas. According to the Shanghai Film Association (SFA), these cinemas and others invite directors, actors and movie critics to screenings of arthouse films before release to assess their appeal and brainstorm a marketing approach.

Arthouse films attract a committed but small minority of viewers, so releases like "Song of the Phoenix" need to find a niche, said Jin Hui, vice president of the SFA.

One solution could be for Chinese films to draw more inspiration from local culture and appeal more specifically to Chinese audiences, something Hollywood would struggle to do, according to Chinese director Gao Xixi.

"The development of Chinese art films should not just rely on the state's subventions, but also on the establishment of a complete industrial system," said another local director, Jia Zhangke.

The filmmaking needs to get better, and audiences will become more discerning as that happens, Jia said. Endi