Jin Ge: The Shanghai International Film Festival still has a way to go

Way back in 1993, when the festival began, I was a teenager. I have vague memories of watching the late Chinese director Xie Jin -- then the chair of the jury -- making a speech on television to welcome the "international friends" that attended the event.

Nearly two decades later, I have gradually earned my stripes as a one of Shanghai’s better-known indie filmmakers.

Over the last few decades, I've watched my share of foreign films and graced the red carpets of several international film festivals. Looking at this film festival right at my doorstep though, I'm still less than excited about the event.

Many people grumble about SIFF, and I am no exception.

Some say that those who object to the festival for any number of reasons will never be happy, no matter how the festival develops, but I say that’s not true. Plenty of us are looking for a home-grown event like SIFF to support the Chinese film industry, if only the festival could make a few changes.

My wish is for SIFF to continue its work to be more open and diverse in the films and people it includes, so that indie filmmakers like myself have more opportunities to take part.

Cinema as art for the masses

All the promotional posters for SIFF that I’ve seen so far have, without exception, boasted of its international content as its main selling point.

Barry Levinson, who directed “Rain Man,” will chair the jury for the Golden Goblet Award this year while Japanese director Shunji Iwai will head the jury for the Asian New Talent Award.

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Stars including Jacky Chan, Fan Bingbing, Matt Damon, Susan Sarandon, Rupert Murdoch and his wife Wendi Deng have all confirmed they will attend the event.

However, the significance of the bright lights and the red carpet, the glamorous cocktail parties and the boisterous film fairs may be lost on most of the audience and grassroots filmmakers, not to mention prove a little self-indulgent.

If SIFF was truly a festival centered around film, then it should be able to create a festive mood accessible to all.

Whenever I take part in overseas film festivals, the parts that I enjoy most are the talks and forums within the program, as they provide a platform for members of the public to interact with industry insiders.

The significance of the bright lights and the red carpet, the glamorous cocktail parties and the boisterous film fairs may be lost on most of the audience and grassroots filmmakers, not to mention prove a little self-indulgent.

I remember a forum I once attended during the San Francisco Film Festival. The aim of the event was to let organizers of all the different film festivals in America interact with each other as well as festival attendees. I got to learn much about the difference between each festival, as well as the selection process for shortlisted films.

This year’s SIFF has taken note and has added some forums to the line-up, such as the President’s Lecture, the Industry Summit as well as the Film Roundtable, but they have been marketed by the organizers as “a platform for industry players to meet and discuss the growth areas of the industry as well as to foster potential collaborations.”

The words indicate that the festival is undoubtedly a commercial affair, and alienates people like me who see film as an art for the masses.

Independent cinema

As both an ardent film-goer as well as a director constantly in search of inspiration, I hope that future SIFF events offer a wider offering of less mainstream films, making room for well-known independent films.

They may not be backed by generous production budgets, their chances of going on the big screen may be slim, they may even be considered too artsy for the DVD pirates to bother copying, but film festivals are the key channels for such films to gain an audience.

In fact, this year’s SIFF does have some indie films among its offerings, many of which have been lauded as black horses at other film festivals, but the problem is they lack the marketing efforts given to the more mainstream films.

If I hadn't made the effort to check, I wouldn't have known that “Global Village,” “Multiple Perspectives” and “Documentary” are just some of the eight categories of film listed at the SIFF.

I also would not have known that “The Piano in the Factory,” a film that I highly recommend, is among the festival’s offerings. This film by Zhang Meng, considered to be one of the rising new directors in China’s film industry, has hauled home many awards from film festivals worldwide.

I may not even have known about the most surprising element of this year’s SIFF: the mobile film competition.

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I have never heard of any other film festival that has established a mobile platform for searching for festival content.

The mobile phone surely doesn't compare to a home entertainment system, its screen is too small and its sound quality too poor, but it is the perfect medium for short films. Popular online TV dramas such as “The Bloody Case that Started from a Steamed Bun” and “The War of Internet Addiction” could serve as templates for the mobile cinema trend.

I can even see myself putting outtakes from my feature films into a mobile cinema piece.

This is a segment of the SIFF that I definitely will not miss.

Of course, I will also be bringing along my mobile phone to snap a few pictures of my fellow indie filmmakers on the red carpet just to show my support.