Cooperate "co-production" to tell a good story

Film and television cooperation between China and France started very early. In 1958, the two countries cooperated in the film "Kite". This is the first color children's feature film in New China, and it is also the first Sino-foreign co-production film, which has a special significance in the history of China's film and television development. The film tells the story of a kite connecting the friendship between Chinese and French children, after being released in France, the number of viewers reached 860,000, and won awards at the 11th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and the 19th Venice International Film Festival, which is considered to be a film that "enhances the friendly exchanges between the Chinese and French peoples". The documentary "Kite Kite", which takes the film's 60 years of broadcast as a clue and shows the story behind the scenes in front of the film's shooting stage, landed on French television in 2019, bringing warm memories to French audiences.

After "Kite", China and France maintained film and television cooperation. For example, the 1987 co-production film "Boudoir Love Grudge", which tells the story of a female pianist in France, has a French audience of more than 950,000 people, and the DVD version of the film is still sold in France today. Another example is "Balzac and the Little Tailor" in 2002, "Rabe's Diary" in 2009, etc. Although there are not many co-production works between the two sides, the unique story presentation method and high-quality shooting and production level have left a deep impression on film lovers at that time and enhanced the mutual understanding between the two peoples. Many French people's early impressions of China may have stemmed from these films.

In 2010, China and France signed the Sino-French Film Co-production Agreement, and the film industry of the two countries was enthusiastic about co-production. Released in 2014, "Nightingale" was filmed in China and completed in France, and has been highly praised by the Chinese and French film circles with its high artistic standards and distinct Chinese elements. The film was screened in France for up to 5 months, and was called "the highest-grossing small and medium-cost literary film in France in 2014", and also participated in more than 20 international film festivals, and the film rights were sold to more than 10 countries and regions.

"Wolf Totem", released in 2015, is another successful case of Sino-French co-production film and television works. Directed by the famous French director Jean Jacques Arnoult, the film explores the relationship between man, animal and nature, telling a Chinese story with an international perspective, and was widely praised when it was released in France, with more than 1.2 million viewers during the release period. "Nightingale" and "Wolf Totem" have achieved both box office and word-of-mouth harvests.

In recent years, most of the film and television works co-produced by China and France are small and medium-cost, realistic themes, intended to tell a good story. The directors, screenwriters and editing teams of some works are from France, but they tell authentic Chinese stories. The filming team went deep into the local areas, showing the customs and customs of different regions, and presenting Chinese elements in a more connotative way of expression. This kind of cooperation provides a more delicate and rich international perspective for telling Chinese stories, and also explores more possibilities for the development of Chinese film art.

The "co-production" of Sino-French film and television cooperation stems from the fact that the two countries have a lot in common in culture. Some reports believe that Chinese and French films are good at presenting people's complex emotions and social contradictions, and audiences in both countries are prone to resonate with the story. The Chinese film "Long Days in the Earth", released in France in 2019, shows a changing China through the stories of several families, and is considered to be "both literary and artistic beauty" and "shows the tenacious national characteristics of the Chinese people".

In the view of Jean-Chrétien Cebertine-Braun, the general representative of the French Chinese Film Festival, this attitude of respecting other cultures and drawing nourishment from excellent cultures is deeply rooted in the hearts of the Chinese and French peoples, so they can appreciate each other, attract each other, and cooperate harmoniously. "Cultural pluralism is one of the important principles of Sino-French co-production films, and filmmakers from both countries are full of imagination and creativity." Sai Beiting said.

France is the birthplace of cinema and one of the distribution centers of world cinema; the Chinese film market has flourished in recent years, and excellent film works have emerged in an endless stream. With the support of policies and the efforts of outstanding filmmakers, Sino-French co-production film and television works will integrate the film resources of the two countries to a greater extent and tell more good stories with temperature to global audiences.

People's Daily ( 2020.07.19 07 edition)