Short films show strong life during fair

Visitors look at new media exhibits at the eighth China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on Friday. [Photo / China Daily]

Producers of short films are seeing more opportunities as the demand for their products increases.

More than 1,000 short films from the Chinese mainland and overseas were assembled in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on Thursday and Friday for the third China International New Media Shorts Festival and KingBonn Award Competition.

The annual event, put on by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and the Shenzhen government since 2010, attracted almost 30,000 short films from 63 countries this year. Awards in 11 categories will be given to the best of them, going to the films deemed to be the best dramas, animations and documentary shorts, among other superlatives.

The biggest award will go to "the Best Short" and will come with 300,000 yuan ($47,000) in prize money.

Beyond winning awards and gaining international exposure, film producers who attend the event are also looking for business opportunities.

Zheng Dingwen, deputy general manger of Shenzhen Media Group, the main organizer of the festival, said, "I have a feeling that people came last year just to be onlookers but this year have come with more real intentions to buy. The potential buyers are mainly traditional TV stations, big video websites, and the most popular products are short dramas and animations.

"Short films are a new offering and have only become popular in the last two or three years, but the future for them is very bright. It's a trend that is keeping up with changes in our lives."

Zheng said China Mobile in 2010 introduced a program called GkerGshooting, which allows subscribers to shoot videos using their mobile phones and then upload them. The program generated 5 million yuan in revenue in its first year and more than 60 million yuan in its second.

"It (the film festival) presents a good opportunity," said Li Xusheng, general manager of Shenzhen BOX Digital Animation.

For a second year in a row, he has come to the festival to promote his short 3D animations, which he makes money from by implanting ads in them.

"Several companies and organizations contacted me after the event last year with the intention of cooperating, including some from France and Hong Kong," he said. "They want to sell their short films through our channel."

On Thursday, the South Korean director Han Jae-bin's short A Day won the Special Jury Award. The 25-minute-long film, which took him two years to complete, tells the story of a woman who recalls the past 90 years of her life during the course of a day and encounters four incarnations of herself at different ages.

On Friday, Han received a card from the Chinese website 56.com, which showed interest in making a purchase, he said

Wang Xiaoshuai, a famous director and the head of the jury for this year's festival, said KingBonn is the best of all of the short film festivals held in China and he hopes it will one day have international influence.

The KingBonn is one of the main events taking pace from Friday to Monday during the eighth China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair. It is the only cultural industries fair in China that is organized at the State level.

The fair, held by the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Commerce and the Shenzhen government, has its main venue in the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center. It also has 40 subsidiary venues, including exhibit halls designated for design, movies, animation and games, intangible cultural heritages and publishing.

This year it attracted exhibitors from almost 2,000 government delegations, enterprises and institutions in China's 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, as well as Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

huangyuli@chinadaily.com.cn