Coup at Cannes gives art-house cinema in China a boost
With a distribution deal agreed for eight titles from the Cannes festival’s official selection and the creation last year of a nationwide art-house circuit, it looks like art movies have a bright future in China
Online film ticketing company Beijing Weying Technology pulled off an extraordinary coup at this year’s Cannes festival’s Marché du Film. Making its first appearance at the annual event, the company secured distribution rights in China for a remarkable eight titles in the festival’s official selection.
IIt’s an impressive slate that includes the film which opened the festival, Ismael’s Ghosts; Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Jury Prize-winner Loveless; and Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here, which took the best actor and best screenplay awards.
Weying’s first foray into distribution seems audacious at first glance. After all, Chinese audiences have shown scant interest in non-mainstream fare, and it’s anybody’s guess what they – and cinema operators – will make of foreign, subtitled, art-house cinema. But with the establishment of China’s first nationwide art-house cinema circuit last year, Weying is no doubt hoping interest in such films will rise.
The ticketing company is one of four private concerns – the others being Wanda Cinema Line, Hong Kong’s Edko Films and filmmaker Jia Zhangke’s production outfit Fabula Entertainment – that joined the China Film Archive and state-owned Huaxia Film Distribution to create the Nationwide Alliance of Arthouse Cinemas.
In a lavish press event held during last year’s Changchun Film Festival, the alliance pledged to ensure its cinemas dedicate at least three screenings each day and 10 evening/weekend berths per week to “art films”. As well as Wanda and Edko’s Broadway circuit, five more Chinese cinema chains have signed up, and the alliance’s website now lists 101 cinemas as partners in the project.