Panorama China launches Film Market

An attendee looks at a poster at the Film Market announcement. MAY ZHOU / CHINA DAILY

Film Market — a China-US platform geared to bringing together Chinese funding and US talent for film co-production in the sci-fi and fantasy genre — was launched at Houston's 50th WorldFest International Film Festival on Thursday.

In its first move, Film Market announced it was accepting entries of sci-fi or fantasy plays until Aug 1. After a few rounds of presentations and review, 10 plays will be selected as winners and presented to investors for possible signups in October.

The Film Market is backed by multiple companies from the Chinese film industry, and several executives from the companies attended the announcement.

The platform aims to discover high-quality film projects and to bring outstanding sci-fi and fantasy films to cinema.

Moreover, the Film Market hopes to bring in new blood to the international film market as the WorldFest celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

Liu Xiaolin, chairman of WD Pictures, will oversee the selection of the entries. "Sci-fi and fantasy films are becoming more and more popular in China. We hope to bring forth China-US co-production projects through this platform. China has the market and money; we are here to seek content and talent," Liu said.

Liu said the entry should be a complete screenplay for feature films of 90 minutes or more, not just an outline of a story. It should aim for Chinese audiences, with consideration for other markets. He emphasized that a major requirement for co-production is that one of the leading actors has to be a Chinese citizen.

All plays submitted will be evaluated by a jury committee of filmmakers, directors, scriptwriters and investors within the industry. Details and entries can be accessed online at www.worldfest-panoramachina.com.

The news attracted people from the US film industries. This year, leaders from both the Western and Eastern film industries will gather. Also, the Panorama China unit will screen more outstanding Chinese films, and more influential people from Chinese and other countries' film industries will join in the celebration of the event.

The announcement set off a buzz at the film festival. Film producers, directors and screenwriters from China and US discussed various details about the program beyond the allotted time.

"This is an eye-opening experience, and it's very exciting for us. We have several plays between us, and we certainly will submit two to three plays," said Marilyn Swick, a film director, producer and writer. She was speaking for herself and a couple of fellow producers and writers.

Hunter Todd, president of WorldFest, said Panorama is the largest film festival in North America showcasing Chinese movies. "China has exceeded the US in film budget and box office, and this is why we started China Panorama three years ago," he said.

Ray Jiang, chairman of Panorama China, said that by setting up the Film Market, "a small tree has been planted", and he looks forward to bringing to fruition future projects.

mayzhou@chinadailyusa.com