China's animated classics to be shown overseas
- By Zhang Rui
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E-mail China.org.cn, May 12, 2021
A selection of 11 classic Chinese animations are to be screened online across North America for the first time.
These classics from Shanghai Animation Film Studio, the oldest and most respected animation studio in China, include: "Fishing Child" (1959), "Where is Mama?" (1960), "Monkey King: Havoc in Heaven" (1961), "Golden Conch" (1963) "Nezha Conquers the Dragon King" (1979), "Snow Kid" (1980), "Black Cat Detective" (1984) and "Lotus Lantern" (1999). The works represent childhood memories of generations of Chinese people and date back to as early as the 1950s.
All the animations being shown, whether they are feature films or short films, have been reworked and restored for 2K high-definition quality by the studio. It is worth noting that the remastered 3D version of all-time classic "Monkey King: Havoc in Heaven" was selected as the opening film of the 2019 Shanghai International Film Festival. The animation was adapted from a chapter of China's popular ancient fantasy novel "Journey to the West."
In terms of aesthetics, the Chinese-style animations are quite different from those made by Disney and other Western animation studios. Fans of animated movies have been enthralled by the traditional art forms and techniques — such as ink painting and paper cutting — adopted by Chinese animators. All the films to be shown were made by hand, rather than computer-generated.
The Shanghai Animation Film Studio retro season will be presented by Trinity CineAsia and Smart Cinema and held online from May 1 to June 30. Smart Cinema, a mobile film screening app which will sell tickets online like physical cinemas, recently marked its third anniversary since its debut in 2018 and upgraded to its 4.0 version.
The special screenings of Chinese animations are part of efforts by Smart Cinema, founded and developed by veteran film executive Jack Gao and his team, to promote Chinese films to the world. In a virtual press conference, he said that by April 2021, the app had screened 327 films on its overseas platforms in countries including Spain, Italy, South Korea as well as countries in North America, while Chinese productions accounted for 90% of the releases on the app. It also served as an online screening platform for 65% of the world's leading film festivals, and collaborated with American TV brand Vizio to expand its services to televisions in 20 million homes across North America. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the app also provided free film tickets to overseas Chinese to provide them with entertainment while they were forced to stay at home.
"Our original aim and responsibility is to help Chinese culture go global and to increase the Chinese film market's potential and share," said Gao, CEO of Smart Cinema, at the press conference. "Smart Cinema has no choice but to deepen its exploration of the overseas market. It has to be done, and must be done well."
Gao also revealed that Smart Cinema will expand into other countries and regions in the world in the future. "Chinese culture going global is an important way to deepen the integration of China and the world. The Chinese film industry has an unshirkable responsibility in this process. It must take globalization as its responsibility, and hopefully the world will fall in love with Chinese films."
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