Wang Xiaoshuai, director of Beijing Bicycle, and more recently Shanghai Dreams, which brought home the Jury Prize at Cannes, met with us at Duolun Museum of Modern Art to discuss the trials and tribulations of filmmaking and deliver a lecture on his craft to an eager audience. The museum was a fitting backdrop for the lecture – as chief curator Gu Zhengqing sees it as “a site to rethink societal problems” a favorite topic for Wang’s company, Sixth-Generation films.

Wang’s lecture, Carving My Time — from The Days to Shanghai Dreams, explored the parallels between life and cinema, and between the lines, the reality of China’s current production methods and distribution.

While Wang Xiaoshuai might be considered successful – he has produced several well-respected works – realizing his dreams in the film industry has proved to be an arduous journey, along a road strewn with compromise.

Shanghai Dreams – the fruit of Wang’s real life experiences growing up in grizzly Guizhou – also serves as a metaphor for the current, rather desperate, situation of the Chinese film industry. As it turns out, the film was no dream to produce. Between having to beg film-star Wang Luodan to participate in the film, and scrounging for money to complete the project, Wang and co-producer Pi Li certainly had a rough go of it.

Their situation is typical of most non-commercial film producers who rely on private investors. With a single phone call, Wang might dial up RMB 500,000 or conversely, struggle for months to scrape together enough coin to cover the basics. Without box office revenues, enticing investors in China is reliably difficult. Most revenue comes from sponsorships – advertisements which air before the film starts. Sponsors therefore see the film as a mere pretext for audiences to watch their commercials. And even with sponsorship and decent box office revenues, many films end up in the red.

Shanghai Dreams came dangerously close. Riding a wave of euphoria following his victory at Cannes, Wang was encouraged by the film’s distribution company to release Shanghai Dreams two months ahead of schedule. Suddenly short of time, Wang cut a few deals and lost 50 per cent of the expected sponsorship revenue. He calculated the risk by banking on an early release and a higher box-office gross improving his chances of securing financing for his next film. The math is straightforward. Shanghai Dreams cost RMB 10 million, and the box-office brought in a “rather satisfying” RMB 3 million. This amount is shared between cinemas, distribution companies, PR agencies and film reproduction labs. International sales, which begin at around RMB 8 million (USD 1 million), 80 per cent of the initial investment – will help recoup costs. In China directors don’t make money with movies. Says Pi: “Our own profit will come from DVDs and CCTV – and it’s a very small profit.”

Despite their sobering financial circumstances, Pi and Wang are optimistic. Together they founded the “Debo” or “Huge Morals” production Company. Both men believe in the old Chinese saying: “With high morals you can solve any problem.” Wang and Pi realize how important it is to offer more opportunities to young filmmakers. “With Debo, we plan to do more commercial projects to support independent films,” explains Pi. A necessary evil perhaps, but one they hope will subsidize a broader array of local artistic films.

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
Photo courtesy Hugo Hu www.huphoto.cdd.cn
October 2005 issue