P10Libraries of Things,‘sharing economy’ for the digital age

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CHENGDU, the capital of Sich-uan Province widely known as a paradise for pandas and foodies, is now a city for

cinema lovers after staging the 2nd BRICS Film Festival.

The event, which brought together talent from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, concluded Tuesday.

Among the highlights of the festi-val was the announcement that the fi ve nations will jointly produce fi ve movies — one for each year from 2017 to 2022; and the plan that the Beijing Film Academy, the country’s largest movie university, will provide 40 full scholarships to students from BRICS countries.

The fi rst co-production of the fi ve countries is “Where Has Time Gone?” and it comprises fi ve stories in 110 minutes.

The fi lm, with stories directed by China’s Jia Zhangke, Russian Alexey Fedorchenko, Indian Madhur Bhan-darkar, South African Jahmil X.T. Qubeka and Brazilian Walter Moreira Salles, Jr., won the artistic contribution prize of the Panda Award, the festival’s highest honor.

Jia’s story is about a Chinese couple struggling to decide if they want a second child after the country’s new family planning policy took effect.

Fedorchenko says a Chinese news report inspired his Russian tale, which features a man relying on an artifi cial device made from a musical instrument to survive.

The Brazilian story explores post-disaster traumas in a mudslide town, while the India section is a tale about an elderly man and a street child. The only sci-fi tale among the fi ve is the South African story, which is set around 1,000 years in the future.

Xie Fei, chairman of the jury, says the movie project exemplifi es cultural exchanges and how fi lmmakers from the fi ve countries could team up.

The other Panda awards went to: “Nice: The Heart of Madness” (Brazil), the best picture; Russians Kim Dru-zhinin and Andrey Shalopa, best direc-tor for war epic “Panfi lov’s 28”; Zhou Dongyu, for best actress for coming-of-age romance “Soul Mate”; Indian Alok Rajwade, for best actor for “Turtle: Kaasav”; and “The Second Mother” (Brazil) and “Ayanda: Women” (South Africa), jury’s special award.

Visual feastThe festival provided a visual feast for

cinephiles.During the fi ve-day festival, which

was held from June 23 to 27 with one day dedicated to each country in the grouping, 33 movies were screened in six local theaters.

The lineup included the Berlin Silver Bear-winner “Central Station” (1998) from Brazil and “Baahubali 2: The Con-clusion” (2017), one of the highest-gross-ing Indian movies.

Makhotso Maggie Sotyu, head of the

BRICS Film Festgives top award to

Co-production

South African delegation and the deputy minister of arts and culture, says the festival entertains as well as serves as an integral part of the many important and strategic steps being taken to realize the BRICS Summit 2017 theme of “deepen-ing partnership for a brighter future.”

“Film is one of the few unique artistic tools of expression that play an important role in cultural exchanges, co-existence and tolerance,” says Sotyu.

Tong Gang, deputy director of the State Administration of Press, Publica-tion, Radio, Film and Television, says

the festival has demonstrated the unique charm of cinema and enhanced people-to-people exchanges among the fi ve countries.

More co-productionsSpeaking about Indian movies,

Ashok Parmar, head of the Indian delegation, says that in recent years, Indian movies have become popular in the Chinese mainland market, thanks to “Dangal,” “P.K.” and “Three Idiots,” all starring Indian superstar Aamir Khan.

He says cinema is part of India’s soft power with most of its globally successful hits resonating with audi-ences beyond its borders.

Parmar also says India and China, two countries both with rich culture and abundant history, can make more fi lms on contemporary themes.

The two countries signed a fi lm co-production agreement in 2014, and to date have coproduced several movies, such as Jackie Chan’s movie “Kung Fu Yoga” and Huang Xiaoming’s “Xuanzang.”

India produces more than 1,000 fi lms in around 20 languages every year.

As for Russia, Boris Mashtaler, head of the Russian delegation, says Chinese fi lmmakers once used to be infl uenced a lot by Russian movies and this is now seeing a revival.

“The fi lm industry is important to connect people. And many Chinese-language fi lms are very popular in Russia,” says Mashtaler, also the executive director of the National Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Russia.

He says that co-productions between China and Russia are in pipeline, such as Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwar-zenegger’s “Mystery of the Iron Mask: Journey to China.”

A common concern for most BRICS countries is Hollywood blockbusters that dominate their markets.

Xoliswa Sithole, a jury member from South Africa, says it should be the col-lective responsibility for the BRICS countries to change this.

“We have a lot to share. China started trading with South Africa more than 1,000 years ago, so all what we are doing now is resuming the business.”

Marcos Caramuru de Paiva, head of Brazilian delegation and the Brazilian ambassador to China, says the festival “helps a lot of our fi lmmakers to see China” and also praised the coopera-tion plans.

“There is a lot in common between our two societies. We really hope to see more (Brazilian movies in China),” he says. “Chinese audiences will be quite interested in Brazilian fi lms.”

In addition to the fi ve co-produc-tions and scholarships, the Beijing Film Academy will also hold workshops to encourage students from BRICS coun-tries to co-produce movies, invite visit-ing scholars and hold master classes.

(China Daily)

“Where Has Time Gone?,” a fi lm co-produced by directors from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, won the highest honor of the BRICS Film Festival. File photos

Chinese director Jia Zhangke (3rd right), with members representing other BRICS countries, receive the Panda Award “Where Has Time Gone?” during the 2nd BRICS Film Festival in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, on Tuesday.