The Chinese film industry has made no secret of the fact that it hopes the success of last year’s Chang’an will herald a new era for the country’s animation studios.
It’s certainly a theory that is playing out front and center inside the China Film Pavilion at this year’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
Run by the China Film Administration and the China Film Co-production Corporation (CFCC), there are more than 20 Chinese film studios represented and hoping to catch the attention of international filmmakers who might be pondering possible co-productions, or even global distribution deals for Chinese animation. Industry heavyweights have also made the trip to France for the event, including Fu Ruoqing, chairman and CEO of China Film Group Corporation.
“The overseas participation of Chinese animation companies and their films has strengthened the collaboration between Chinese and foreign filmmakers, and conveyed to international counterparts and audiences the Chinese filmmakers’ expectations to jointly achieve a win-win future,” is how a CFCC spokesperson put it. “The China Film Pavilion will continue to promote exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and foreign film industries and promote Chinese films to go global.”
Chang’an took an estimated $250 million globally and while the lion’s share of that take was domestic, it raised eyebrows due to both its subject matter and its look. The Light Chaser Animation Studios-led production — which struck deals for international distribution with Niu Vision Media — tells the story of the friendship between two Tang Dynasty (618 to 907) poets and came after what the studio claims was a significant investment in the technology needed to match the standards of animation audiences have come to expect, given the global success of the likes of Pixar.
“The past decade has seen fast and significant growth in the Chinese animation…
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