The 8th annual Global Film Industry Value Chain Development Forum was held during the 24th Shanghai International Film Festival. The forum invited film executives to discuss and explore the development trends and prospects of the film industry in the era of media convergence.

Charles H. Rivkin, chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association (MPA) noted that although the global film industry has been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic over the past year, the efforts of filmmakers and rapid recovery of the film markets, with China being the best example, have boosted the confidence of the world's film industry.

But just due to the pandemic, many foreign filmmakers, executives and experts could not come to Shanghai's film festival, so that they spoke via video links during the forum. "Avengers: Endgame" director Joe Russo was the one to join the forum online, and said he believed that artificial intelligence (AI) technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and virtual productions, will become the main direction of film shooting in the future, especially for science fiction films or blockbusters which require magnificent visual effects.

Gordon Cheng, CEO of Cameron Pace Group Asia & China, briefed the forum attendees about the new 3D technologies developed and to be used in James Cameron's much-anticipated "Avatar 2." He said China's film technology market is booming, and he hoped to explore and develop more advanced technologies with China's top universities as well as top film and technology companies, so that more future Chinese film and television works, especially in the field of science fiction, can use the China's own intelligent technologies.

Sun Zheyi, president of Sunac Culture, pointed out that AI shortens the animated film creation cycle, and technologies such as VR, AR and especially mixed reality (MR) can promote the strengthening of the relationship between virtual and real film sets. "The Sacrifice", released last year which used virtual production and many other new technologies, played an important role in promoting the industrialization of the domestic film industry. However, he suggested that compared with other industries, China's film and television industry still needs to be strengthened in terms of innovation.

In response to the ever-shortening cinema window period during the pandemic and the relationship between streaming media and theater chains, IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond believed as the film industry has a history of more than 100 years, with one year "interrupted" by the pandemic, nothing will really change anything forever. He said in the future, small films could opt for online release but the big blockbusters will still choose to release in theaters first, which will give films longer-term value. The robust recovery of the Chinese film market proved that audiences will return to theaters to enjoy the theatrical experience as soon as they are able to.

Li Jie, president of Alibaba Pictures, thought the internet is a very good way to supplement the distribution of theatrical releases. "For film companies, two teams should be established in the future: a theatrical release team and an online film team, which are two forms of the industry." He added, "China has a large audience, and has both theater distribution systems and online distribution systems that can digest a larger volume of content. Therefore, in the future, China may have a model that is rare in the world. There is a lot of room for industry practitioners to explore."

William Feng, vice president for Asia Pacific and head of Greater China of the MPA, said the association has always promoted cooperation between China and America in terms of filmmaking, and promoted Chinese films overseas. Previously the MPA and its member companies hosted Sino-foreign co-production forums, screening events and filmmaker exchange programs through which excellent Chinese filmmakers were invited to study and have exchanges in the United States every year. 

He revealed there are new cooperation and exchange plans to not just support high-end talent exchanges in filmmaking, but also extend to other fields for more cooperation in the film industry, which will help China's film industrialization and Chinese culture to go global.  

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