Festivals, Censorship and the Canon: The Makings of Sinophone Cinemas

Abstract

Film festivals have long offered a major opportunity for film-makers to premiere new work and seek contracts from potential distributors, who target festivals based on their own market interests. The success of the competing films can significantly influence the distributors’ decisions as well as the opinions of the general public, who expect festivals to ‘pre-screen’ numerous new productions, and who form a list of worthy picks before the films open in theatres. As a natural consequence, festivals generate publicity and serve as a weather vane for many international films’ potential markets: domestic or overseas. In analyzing strategies of marketing independent films, Robert Sickels (2009) points out that even a big studio like Sony Pictures Classics would create a profile for a given film through a series of film festivals, as it is an inexpensive way to garner publicity and critical acclaim (p. 140). For many independent film-makers in China and Taiwan, who frequently work without substantial government funding or the financial backing of big studios, international film festivals have become the primary venue for gaining recognition. In the case of Taiwan, this also leads to government cash awards.¹ Using Ang Lee, Jia Zhangke and Wei Te-sheng as case studies,² this chapter examines the role international film festivals play in promoting Sinophone cinemas — which comprise the many ‘Chinese’ language films (Hua yu dian ying) inside and outside China.