The capital's booming cinema scene is playing a huge part in driving the culture industry, it was revealed ahead of the first Beijing International Film Festival.

With 108 cinemas offering 550 screens, second only to New York, official figures released on Wednesday show the city's box offices raked in almost 1.2 billion yuan last year, an increase of 46 percent on 2009.

The statistics coincide with the long-awaited movie festival, which starts on Saturday and is expected to cement Beijing's place as the country's cultural heart.

"Beijing contributed 12 percent of China's total box office revenue in 2010," said Pang Wei, spokeswoman for the festival on Tuesday, when asked why the nation needs to add to the international film festivals already held in Shanghai and Changchun.

"More than 60 percent of the country's films are also produced here," she added, "while many industry insiders have long called for Beijing to have a festival of its own."

The capital's celebration of all things cinematic will also forego the usually prize-giving procedures and instead focuses on development, with several forums and lectures accompanying its selection of 160 movies from 42 countries.

With China expected to become the world's second largest film market by 2015, one key feature of the festival will be the Beijing Film Market, which will provide a platform for producers, distributors and exhibitors to discuss possibilities of cooperation.

"The number of applicants to attend the market far surpassed the 100 exhibition booths," said Zhao Dongming, executive director of the festival organizing committee. "There are already 10 cooperative projects waiting to be signed."

Yet, it's not only the capital's film industry making a boost; the entire cultural sector has enjoyed boom times over the past five years, according to Zhang Miao, a senior publicity official for the Beijing municipal government.

Statistics show that the industry's 2010 output of 169 billion yuan accounted for 12.3 percent of the capital's total GDP, a year-on-year increase of 20 percent.

The target is now for the industry to contribute 15 percent of the capital's total GDP by 2015. "We'll also try ... be pushing forward structural reforms and working on property rights protection mechanisms," said Zhang.

China Daily

(China Daily 04/21/2011 page)