Drawing the Curtain

“I have heard you can speak many languages. Can you say something in Chinese？”asked the red carpet hostess at the Beijing International Film Festival（BJIFF） in English to French actor Jean Reno upon his arrival. Reno appeared slightly confused and muttered a Chinese“hello” before moving on down the gauntlet of flashbulbs and formal wear. The hostess， apparently chosen more for her appearance than her interviewing or English skills， welcomed Oliver Stone equally awkwardly during his turn， and photographers and fans along the rails appeared fairly unimpressed with both Hollywood veterans compared to the reactions to appearances by more familiar Chinese stars.

In only its fourth installment， the 2014 BJIFF already rivals its international counterparts in terms of pageantry – not unlike the unprecedented pomp produced by Beijing for China’s inaugural Olympic hosting in 2008. BJIFF’s red carpet was as wide and long as any in the world， including the Oscars， and the flashes sparkling from the rails as each star made an obligatory pass were second-to-none.

And yet to attendees seasoned by visits to established festivals in the West， something was sorely missing： soul. Organizers clearly committed to presenting an event that testified to China’s emergence as a major global artistic player – paralleling the magnificent rise of Chinese film over the past decade， but leaving a surplus of style to fill the void left by a lack of sub- stance. The sole pair of Chinese films to be screened at the festival， The Grandmaster and American Dreams in China， were bigbudget， studio， mainstream affairs that had been widely released long before – even previously premiering at Berlin and Toronto festivals， respectively. To boot， the films’directors and stars， some of the biggest Chinese names globally， didn’t even appear in Beijing. And both films are flavored with tinges of patriotism and nationalism.

Last year， the international critical consensus best Chinese film of 2013， Jia Zhangke’s gritty， violent， low-budget， heavily negative-toned A Touch of Sin premiered at Cannes and was nominated for the Palme d’Or. Jia took Cannes’ award for Best Screenplay.

Precedent

Due to BJIFF’s infancy， its organizers should certainly glance at the histories of the world’s longest-running， most prestigious film festivals as they look to the future. The oldest film festival in the world， Venice， was launched in 1932 coinciding with Italy’s foray into fascism， and during its early years， the “Mussolini Cup” award went to regime-friendly Italian films – not to mention that five out of six foreign film awards from 1936 to 1942 went to German films. After Mussolini’s ousting， the award’s name was changed， and today the festival is considered one of the most prestigious in the world. However， an Italian film that is globally considered one of the top 10 greatest of all time， Bicycle Thieves， was produced in Italy in 1948， right in the wake of the war – and was never considered by Venice Film Festival. Upon its release in Italy， Bicycle Thieves was widely received hostilely for portraying Italians negatively， while international critics consistently praised it ever since.

Despite Venice’s position as the world’s longest-running film festival， Cannes， held in southern France， and Sundance in Utah， USA， are likely the most prominent today. Although French organizers， inspired by Venice， discussed launching a competing festival as early as the 1930s， not until 1946， immediately after the war， did Cannes Film Festival become a reality. A feature adopted by Beijing， Cannes first introduced the “film market” in 1959， a platform to connect independent filmmakers to potential distributors. To balance this commercial aspect， in 1962 Cannes launched “Critic’s Week” to honor new filmmakers who resisted catering to whims of the market.

For a trend that began with nationalist undertones in days of war， it was likely the critical developments in the 1960s – like so many social movements of that era – that transformed the concept of film festivals into what it is today. Cinephiles consider festivals safe havens for non-mainstream controversial and experimental work that may not appeal to the mass market directly. Sundance wasn’t established until 1978， and it was launched for the purpose of sponsoring competition between independent filmmakers and highlighting regional filmmakers who worked outside of the Hollywood system. The very first Sundance film festival screened Deliverance， Mean Streets and Midnight Cowboy. Mean Streets effectively put its director， Martin Scorsese， on the map， and Midnight Cowboy received an “X” rating from censors for explicit content， yet went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Breaking Tomorrow’s Stars

Film festivals are made by the films and filmmakers they introduce to the world – not by showcasing the contemporary local establishment. Telluride Film Festival， held in Colorado， USA since 1972， years before Sundance started， still requires submissions to have never before been screened in North America. Its scheduling complements this requirement： just after Cannes， but just before New York and Toronto festivals. It introduced the world to Michael Moore by premiering his debut， Roger and Me， in 1989， then Robert Rodriguez through El Mariachi in 1992， as well as other celebrated indie films such as Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive （David Lynch）， The Crying Game （Neil Jordan）， and Brokeback Mountain （Ang Lee）， which went on to win the Best Picture Oscar.

After Telluride， Michael Moore took Roger and Me to Sundance， eventually won an Oscar for Bowling for Columbine in 2003 （a film attacking American gun policy）， and became the highest-grossing documentary filmmaker of all time when his 2004 film Fahrenheit 9/11 accused the sitting American President of negligence， if not complicity， in the September 11， 2001 terrorist attack on New York City. The film grossed over $100 million in the United States alone， beating every previous documentary’s earnings exponentially. Moore made Sicko in 2007 to criticize the United States’ healthcare system， received another Oscar nomination for it， and the Affordable Care Act was drafted by the United States Senate in 2009 and passed in 2010.

Oliver Stone， an attendee at this year’s Beijing Film Festival， is a similarly staunch leftist critic of the American establishment， so much so that he made the appearance in Beijing to promote his documentary depicting an alternate interpretation of 20th Century American history. His breakout film， Platoon， premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 1986. Born on the Fourth of July celebrates protesters who pressured the American government to leave Vietnam. How far away is a Chinese Michael Moore or Oliver Stone？

A joint production between American and Chinese studios， Chinese-language Lust， Caution swept the Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion awards in 2007， received an NC-17 rating in the United States and was heavily edited before any screening in China due to several graphic sex scenes. Taiwan-born， American-educated Ang Lee remains a proud point for China after his second Best Director Oscar win， but he has become as firmly planted within the Hol- lywood establishment as they come.

Director of The Grandmaster， Wong Kar-wai burst onto the international cinema scene a decade ago when his In the Mood for Love was nominated for a Palme d’Or in Cannes in 2000. Both he and American Dreams in China director Peter Chan have even worked in Hollywood. BJIFF’s Chinese films are as safe as they come. The Grandmaster is about kung fu and American Dreams in China was intended to be a Chinese version of The Social Network– it celebrates entrepreneurialism loosely based on the founder of China’s biggest chain of English schools.

Still in its infancy， Beijing Film Festival should avoid paralleling Venice in its early days. To grab global attention， the festival needs controversial Chinese films. The Chinese establishment becoming more tolerant of nonconformity would inject the country’s artistic and creative communities with a shot of adrenaline. Midnight Cowboy had been deemed obscene by the American establishment before it was accepted by Sundance and then the Oscars， and Bicycle Thieves was seen as an insult to Italy before becoming one of the country’s greatest works of art of the 20th Century. As long as organizers remain focused on relying on proven formulas， maintenance of order and working within the established system rather than against it， Cannes and Berlin will likely continue breaking China’s bravest， most cuttingedge filmmakers， the Western filmmaking industry will adopt them as one of their own， and Western art will reap the greatest benefits.