James Cameron is king of Beijing

by Richard Trombly

23 April 2012, Beijing — In the shadow of the Beijing Olympics near the famed Bird’s Nest is the Beijing National Convention Center where the 2nd annual Beijing International Film Festival is taking place.

The BJIFF “red carpet” opening ceremony kicked off with the expected pomp and circumstance reminiscent of the Olympics that happened here – including a song by Chinese singer Liu Huan, who sung “You and Me” – The 2008 Olympics theme song. As the event was starting, Beijing tourism videos were played to get everyone in the proper mood for appreciation of the agenda of the BJIFF.

Though James Cameron was not first to speak, his comments were in line with the agenda of the evening. He first spoke about the rapid growth of cinemas in China where multiple cinema screens are added every day in brand new cinemaplexes China.

“The Chinese have spoken,” said Cameron.” and what they have said is that they want to watch movies where they are meant to be seen – on the big screen.”

He pointed out his own success with the Titanic 3D re-release where the film earned more in China than in the rest of the world combined. Cameron concluded that this economic success made the Chinese film industry a force to be reckoned with within the international movie market.

Beijing International Film Festival opening ceremony

The event kicked off with some Beijing Olympic-style pageantry with dancers behind a screen enacting various movie-inspired themes with visual effects projected on a screen in front of them including a “Matrix”-style segment. This was followed by greater pageantry with the vast auditorium’s 3 stages filled with Beijing opera-styled dance number with more than 100 performers.

Then the important film festival guests were greeted – for the Beijing International Film Festival, that was neither the esteemed native film makers nor honored foreign guests – but the honored members of the CPC leadership, standing party members and other government dignitaries. After this rousing set of introductions made clear Beijing’s commitment to film making, the hosts welcomed Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong to the stage where he spoke about the strength of Beijing and its power as the film making center of China.

Guo was followed by an honored member of the censorship body SARFT (State Agency of Radio,Film and Television) whose mission is to keep media safe for citizens to consume in China. His agenda was to address the growth of the industry in monetary terms and addressing international co-productions as an investment win-win situation.

All in all, this event made a strong statement about Beijing’s commitment to the film industry and the quality standard of modern Chinese cinema.