Winning Global Audience with a Sense of Local Culture

On October 28, the 2020 Hengdian Film Festival was opened, and two days later a meeting for sharing international experiences was held within the New Era Film & Television Culture Industry Development Conference. The themes of this year’s conference were “cross-border cooperation in innovative film and television content” and “strategic distribution under the global reform span.” Wang Zhonglei, CEO of Huayi Brothers, was invited to attend and discuss the themes with Chinese and international guests. As representative of China’s film and television enterprises, he also delivered a concluding speech.

Wang believes that the fundamental premise for internationalization is the thorough fostering of local culture. Filmmakers should start from local culture and recreate an emotive energy that resonates across a broad audience. This would gain international recognition through the dissemination of local culture and values.

Since its release on August 21, the war film produced by Huayi Brothers, The Eight Hundred, has won the support of audiences all over the country with its rich emotive message. Up to now, it has recorded over 310 million RMB at the box office and has become a domestic production that has reached the Top 2020 Movies at the Worldwide Box Office.

As a Chinese filmmaker, Wang claimed that international peers are appreciating and show respect for Chinese culture and Chinese audience. They are also adopting innovative film technology and creative concepts to work with China to bring the Chinese story to the world. Wang also hopes that Chinese filmmakers can base their works on the peculiar features of the Chinese nation, participating in the creation of film and television content with a global perspective, promote cultural confidence with significant works, and promote the integration of world cultures.

Due to the social nature and high population concentration of cinemas, the global film industry is facing enormous challenges under the influence of the pandemic. The pandemic has accelerated the integration of the film industry with the Internet, but it has also triggered a series of discussions on the adjustment and reform of the film industry at a global scale in this particular span of time.

In this regard, Wang believes that the pandemic has indeed caused a certain impact on traditional film screenings, but it does not mean that this will definitely become the new norm. Audience still like to go to the movies, depending on a range factors, including audio-visual experience, social and emotional needs, and the individual sense of ritual viewing.

When asked about the “corrosion” of the film distribution due to the media streaming distribution during the pandemic, Wang explained that he would not use the word “corrosion” to describe the impact of streaming media on film theaters. He reckons the two have not necessarily mutually exclusive relations, but can complement each other. Watching a film at the theater has its unique advantages, and the Internet film streaming also has its new needs. These two distribution modes will be parallel and symbiotic in the future to jointly promote the development of the film industry. (Translated by Marco Lovisetto, edited by Mariam Ayad)

王中磊出席横店影视发展大会·国际分享汇： 从本土文化出发，以情感共鸣赢得世界观众

10月28日，2020横店影视节正式拉开帷幕。30日，作为横店影视节的重要活动之一，新时代影视文化产业发展大会·国际分享汇在横店举行。本次会议的主题是“影视内容创新的跨境合作”和“全球‘窗口期’变革下的发行策略”，华谊兄弟副董事长、CEO王中磊受邀出席，与中外嘉宾展开主题讨论，并作为中国影视企业代表进行总结发言。

王中磊认为，对本土文化精耕细作，是国际化的前提和基础。电影人应从本土文化出发，创作能让广阔观众共鸣的情感能量，通过文化和价值观的传播来获得国际认可。

华谊兄弟出品战争影片《八佰》自8月21日上映以来，凭借着影片厚重的情感浓度，获得了全国观众的支持。截至目前，《八佰》票房已突破31亿，并成为登顶2020年度票房全球冠军的国产电影。

王中磊表示，作为中国电影人，欢迎国际同仁们带着对中国文化与中国观众的尊重，以创新的电影技术、创作理念，和中国一道为世界观众讲好中国故事；也希望中国电影人未来能以中华民族优秀文化为根基，更多地参与到全球视野的影视内容创作中，用优秀作品践行文化自信，促进世界文化的交流融合。

由于影院具有较强的社交属性与较大的人口聚集度，全球电影行业在疫情的影响下，面临着巨大的挑战。疫情加速了电影行业与互联网融合的过程，但也引发了世界范围内对于电影“窗口期”调整和革新的一系列讨论。

对此，王中磊认为，疫情影响确实对传统影院放映造成了一定冲击，但并不意味着这一定会形成常态。观众依然是喜欢走进影院观影的，这其中有视听体验的因素，也有社交情感的需求，还有大家对于观影仪式感的难以割舍。

在被问及如何看待疫情期间流媒体发行对院线发行的侵蚀时，王中磊表示不喜欢用“侵蚀”这样的说法去描述流媒体对院线窗口的影响，王中磊认为二者的关系并非一定相克，而是可以相辅相成的，院线观影有它独到的优势，互联网观影也有它新型的需求，这两种发行方式未来会并行、共生，共同推动电影行业的发展。