The city of Chengdu, panda capital of the world, is now a hotspot for global film and television.
The Golden Panda Awards are bringing in films and TV from over 120 countries.
On top of the excitement, we've got an interview that's basically a time machine taking us through 120 years of Chinese cinema.
You don't want to miss it.
Coming to you live from Beijing, this is Roundtable.
I'm He Yang.
For today's program, I'm joined by Steve and Yushun in the studio.
First on today's show.
Chengdu in southwest China's Sichuan province and world famous as the home of giant pandas, is set to roll out the red carpet for filmmakers and television creators from around the globe.
From September 12 to 13, the second Golden Panda Awards will showcase 5300 entries from 126 countries and regions, attracting some of the brightest talents in the industry.
Beyond the glittering trophies and embroidered Golden Panda certificates, what makes this event stand out as a rising star on the international film calendar?
First of all, let's start at the beginning, which is only two years ago.
How did the Golden Panda Awards come to life and what makes them special in the world of film and television?
This Golden Panda Awards debuted in September 2023 in Chengdu, as you said, southwest China's Sichuan province.
And actually that year attracted over 7,000 submissions around the globe.
More than 1,500 guests attended that event. international event.
This event is organized by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the Sichuan Provincial Government and is held biannually to recognize outstanding global contributions in film and TV, which means this year is the second Golden Panda Awards.
And also I would like to talk about the city, Chengdu, right?
As Chinese people, we have an idea to this city about.
It is a city that you will feel that kind of everyday warmth and you will always have that chill vibe when you're living in there.
So this city is more of... can give you a sense of that endless creative possibility.
Does it feel like an artistic city?
Is that what it's known for as well?
I think both.
Both artistic and also that easygoing vibe.
So it's kind of a perfect soil for this Golden Panda Awards and a platform that bridges regions, languages and also cultures.
That's set by the jury president this year, Chen Kaige.
And also he noted that this year's Nezha 2, the animated movie right, also born in Chengdu, also once again highlights the city's unique spirit and its deep resonance with film and art.
It's a bigger event this time around, which is good news, obviously showing how popular it was the first time, right?
You said 7,000 submissions and more than 1,500 guests in attendance.
This time...
For this year's awards.
They have 5300 plus entries from 126 countries and regions, including 3900 plus submissions from overseas, which is really impressive.
The jury lineup as well.
They have 27 senior officials professionals experts, scholars from the film and television industries, both from China and abroad as well.
So it was a successful event the first time around.
Seems like it's going to be even more successful the second time around.
So in total, 27 honors will be presented across five categories.
They are film, TV drama, documentary, animation, also a special jury prize.
And this year's awards feature three main events an international cultural forum, a series of parallel sessions and the awards gala.
Yes.
And what are some of the interesting activities are there for us to anticipate?
My favorite.
It's on my bucket list.
If I were going there for this event, it would be my number one thing to do.
It's called Face to Face with Pandas.
Oh, yeah, of course.
And it showcases the beauty and nature of the city itself and the ecology there.
Also, there's going to be a global short video contest, which should be fun to take part in.
And they've already drawn over 65,000 entries for that from more than 40 different countries.
65,000 entries for the short video contest.
That's going to be really competitive.
Oh, yes.
Oh, one of the exciting events leading up to the awards is Let's Watch a Film Together.
How does this initiative showcase Chinese cinema, engage audiences and connect film with culture, tourism and public benefits?
Oh yeah, as a part of this Golden Panda Awards, Sichuan is rolling out this event called Let's Watch a Film Together, and it is ranging from August 29th to September 30th, which is the whole month, right.
Over the course of a month, movie lovers can catch screenings in cinemas, enjoy outdoor projections and also joining cultural activities across different cities.
And the lineup is wide-ranging from what we mentioned, the Golden Panda entries, and also standout films from Sichuan, to Italian classics, global favorites and even works celebrating 120 years of Chinese cinema.
With 15 premium cinemas taking part, plus Meet the Creator sessions, also road shows and post-film discussions, which means, I think, this will be surely a feast for movie lovers a lot of them because they will have the chance to meet creators and actors behind their favorite films.
That's one of the best things about a film festival, right?
I've actually done a show in front of the main building of a film festival before and it was really a special experience to be able to meet some of the actors and talk with the directors.
To be able to talk with the directors about the films that they made is just such a special treat, right.
That's going to be taking place.
I don't know if you mentioned there Yuxin, but it's all over the province, right?
It's not just in Chengdu, it's all over Sichuan province.
And they're going to have this outdoor screening program too.
So this is going to take a month from the 1st of September to the end of September.
And they're going to have over 50000 screenings for these outdoor programs and they're hosted at 10 urban landmarks, along with five university campuses.
It's really cool, right?
They're going to integrate over 20000 public welfare film screening sites in administrative villages, and they'll have full provincial coverage in both urban areas and rural areas too.
The screening spots at the universities.
They are going to be organizing some in-depth dialogues between movie fans and, then again, the creators of the films.
What a special treat for them.
And another thing I would like to mention about this Golden Panda Awards is the certificates.
I think it is worth mentioning when I saw that there winners will receive their certificates embroidered with a golden panda which is a kind of a classic heritage or that local heritage that with a lot of local folk art It is called Sichuan embroidery, of course, a style of embroidery folk art native to southwest China, Sichuan and Chongqing.
It has a history of over 3000 years and it is one of the four most famous types of embroidery in China.
You're getting that certificate with artists' handmade certificates.
Yeah, I'm sure that's going to be exquisite.
What a beautiful souvenir to have, you know.
Chinese cinema has been evolving for over 120 years, from silent black and white films to today's CGI blockbusters.
To take us through this journey.
Our reporter, Wang Yangyang chatted with Teng Ji-meng, visiting professor of Chinese film studies at the University of International Business and Economics, about how China has engaged with international film trends while creating its own cinematic identity.
The Golden Penna Awards isn't just about today's new films.
It's also about a celebration of today's cinema history, both in China and around the world.
So, Professor Teng, for international audiences who might be curious about where it all began, could you give us a glimpse of the very beginnings of Chinese cinema?
Okay, absolutely.
The very beginning of Chinese cinema can be traced back to 1905, with a short film Conquered the Jun Mountain.
In Chinese, we say Ding Junshan.
It's a filmed performance of a Peking opera classic.
Unlike Western cinema of the same period, which was quickly experimenting with narrative storytelling, China's first moving images were closely tied to its traditional stage culture.
Cameras captured not only the story of the heroes, but also the stylized singing gestures and costumes that were already deeply familiar to audiences in this country.
This blending of cinema and opera set an enduring precedent.
Even today, Chinese filmmakers often return to opera-based stories and aesthetics, reimagining them for new generations.
Animated films such as Princess Iron Fan in Chinese once again, Tie Sheng Gong Zhu.
The first full-length Chinese animation show how traditional performance, myth and cinematic innovation could come together to create something both modern and deeply rooted in cultural heritage.
Throughout the 20th century, numerous films directly adopted Peking opera stories, such as Fit Son Caring Father, Wu Zi Bai Shou, Three Attacks on Zhu Village, Sen Da, Zhu Jiao Zhong and Sen Cha Kou, and many others, seeing in the global context that this dialogue between opera and film is also unique to China, but part of a wider pattern.
Japan developed a rich tradition of film kabuki plays And, in the West, opera films ranging from Franco's Zafari to Frehley's cinematic staging of La Triviata and to lib cinema to live cinema broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera.
All demonstrates a similar effort to translate stage traditions to to the screen.
And so, taken together, these works show how the film opera, fragment of 1905, has blossomed into a century-long dialogue between stage and screen, one that continues to shape how Chinese filmmakers and their international counterparts imagine performance, identity and cultural heritage today.
Yes, such a wonderful connection between movies and opera and tradition.
And I believe every film culture has its own first lights.
It is those first lights that spark a whole industry.
And if we fast forward a little bit, Chinese cinema really began stretching its artistic muscles in the mid 20th century.
What are some key works that represent this period?
Sure.
Moving into this 20th century, one may find the Chinese cinema began to move beyond filmed opera and experiment with more distinctive artistic expressions.
Films such as The Street Angel Ma Luqin Shi, made in 1937, The Vinh Family Shop, made in 1933, and Spring in a Small Town in 1948, each opened new possibilities.
They explored urban life and psychological depth and offered social critique, blending realism with lyricism in ways that still feel strikingly modern.
And so some of these key words I'd like to repeat at this point is urban life, social realism, psychological depth and social critique.
Yeah, looking back, those films feel remarkably ahead of their time.
In my opinion, they also carved out a creative playground that nourished later filmmakers, a minute of whom really started to shine since the 1990s, with many Chinese directors and movie stars gaining global recognition and Oscar-winning films coming into the spotlight.
Could you walk us through this pivotal period in Chinese film history?
Absolutely.
The 1990s has been widely recognized as a remarkable era of international recognition for Chinese cinema, when works such as Farewell My Concubine To Live and many others gained major awards and critical acclaim on the global stage.
These films were not only artistic achievements.
They offered international audiences a profound introduction to the complexities of modern Chinese history, memory and emotion, presented with a cinematic language that was both uniquely Chinese and universally moving.
For Chinese audiences.
These films validated the idea their own lived history, cultural traditions and personal struggles could be told with artistry equal to any world cinema.
And so they opened a new space where intimate family stories and grand historical forces would exist, at the same time reflecting both national drama and resilience.
Right.
Personally, I would call it a golden age of Chinese cinema history.
And moving into the new century, I think Chinese cinema still keeps giving us surprises.
What are the key features at the beginning of this new century?
Yes.
In the new century, Chinese cinema, for me, has increasingly turned back towards this very old way of making movies or in terms of thematic concerns.
Has a lot of reasons.
They turn to pressing social realities, producing works that resonate powerfully with audiences.
Home in a bra.
She filmed such as Dying to Survive, 我不需要神, made in 2018, Send Me to the Clouds, 送我上青云, and the most recent one, Her Story, 狗东西, made in 2023, they all reveal the urgent issues facing ordinary people.
And this is the major difference, I think.
It is filmed made addressing issues of ordinary people instead of telling stories of emperors and empresses, great martial artists in distant history.
Nowadays, we have directors focusing on, for example, issues like healthcare injustice, silent struggles of women against entrenched patriarchy.
And that's why I think these films are so very impressive.
Chinese film once again has this very tradition of to educate, to enlighten and to help to express and convey the sufferings.
Yeah, I have to say, films like that always left me in tears.
But alongside realism, we've also witnessed huge strides in movie technology.
So in recent years, science fiction and blockbusters have taken center stage.
For example, The Wandering Earth is a representative in this field, dominating at home and also reaching international audiences as well.
So what possibilities does this new wave of sci-fi movies open up for Chinese cinema?
Yeah, the rise of Chinese science fiction and blockbuster productions really opened up entirely new possibilities for the nation's cinema.
Works such as The Wandering Earth and The Three-Body Problem and the upcoming Floating Beijing, based on Hao Jingfang's Hugo Award-winning novella, showed that the Chinese filmmakers are no longer limited to intimate realism or historical allegory.
They're venturing into speculative futures.
Cosmic imagination and grand scale world building that stand alongside Hollywood in technical ambition and narrative scope.
The key words is that we are now so technically ambitious and with the capacity to build a new narrative strand with all these new technology available.
So these new waves, to me, represents a breakthrough in at least three ways.
First, it demonstrates China's capacity to produce visually spectacular and globally competitive blockbusters films with the scale, effects and spectacle to capture mass audiences.
Second, I think it expands the imaginative horizons of Chinese storytelling.
Science fiction allows filmmakers to ask questions about technology, survival and humanity's place in the universe, but also about uniquely Chinese themes such as collective responsibility, ecological crisis and the balance between tradition and modernity.
Thirdly, it positions Chinese cinema as a participant in global cultural dialogues, using speculative theories fiction, not only to entertain, but also to present distinctly Chinese visions of the future.
In this sense, this rise of science fiction opened up totally new creative and innovative spaces for filmmakers to offer this Chinese vision of the future.
Before, it is all Chinese directors mimicking, following the trend.
And nowadays, filmmakers are blazing the new trail.
I think another phenomenon is the rise of Chinese animated films made history at the box office and gained global fans as well.
For example, Nezha.
Well, this year's Nezha is huge.
It shattered the records and became the China's highest grossing animated film in the history and ranked fifth worldwide.
So Professor Teng, how do you see this growth of Chinese animation?
It is amazing.
It is hugely impressive.
Sort of the re-emergence or like a new kids on the block, to put it in English.
Yes.
And so Nezha created several new trends in terms of what we call the Chinese school of cinema making.
First thing first.
I think Nezha created new images by falling back on the animation filmmaking on the 1920s, for example, Tieshan Gongzhu and Xiaoji.
All these animations actually provide a huge source of inspiration in terms of storytelling.
Nuozha is based on this traditional Chinese mythology.
Like Journey to the West, like Tie Shan Gong Zhu, the Iron Fan, the Princess.
They have a story basis.
They have a traditional, very Chinese story to tell.
Secondly, it improves its storytelling technique.
It's no longer kind of offering audiences with the flat characters.
Nowadays you see Nezha, this kid, this demon kid, who looks sometimes very lovely and sometimes can look very ugly and kind of ferocious faces.
And in that sense, on the big screen we are offering audiences the image of a hero with a thousand faces.
If you talk about mythology, and I may use the term by this very famous American mythology scholar, Joseph Campbell, in his Oriental mythology, he was talking about all these Asian mystic mythological figures, and Ne Zha is one of those mythological figures now revived by Chinese filmmakers.
Thirdly, by means of technology, the AI use, VR use, the VFX use in general help to portray a character or a hero with a thousand faces.
Lastly, I think Chinese animation film directors like Zhao Zijian, in a sense, is so aware of the current international politics.
And he managed to work and integrate some of these messages with China and China's rise peacefully, and China's rise by means of his own struggle, fend off invasion, aggression.
In this sense, it is also talking about international relations, talking about international affairs through this very lovely animation character.
Yes, and from the earliest images to today's wonderful and diverse spectacles, the story of Chinese cinema is still unfolding.
If you could sum up both the past and the future of Chinese film.
What would you like to say, Professor Tong?
That's a hard question.
To me, Chinese filmmaking has survived and thrived since 1905, beginning from the Peking Opera film Ding Jun Mountain and, to Close, the Sparrows made in the late 1940s, reflecting upon first the Peking Opera art.
Secondly, the socio-economic and socio-political realities in China.
China's war efforts during its war against the Japanese oppression.
And later on, in terms of nation building, since 1949, how it constructed socialism.
Eventually, filmmaking evolved into the kind of a tool for us to reflect upon history reality memory, and also how to deal with some of the most powerful sensibilities in a society that is becoming increasingly complicated and advancing, and sometimes caught in the middle of the struggle between of tradition and modernization.
And so what I'm hoping is that Chinese cinema will continue to evolve, and evolve from this very traditional art form into a form of social engagement and, at the same time, with an increased capacity not only to reflect upon society, but also to inspire empathy, dialogue and change in this global world we are now living.
Through Wang Yangyang's chat with Teng Ji Meng, we got a cinematic time capsule seeing how Chinese films have grown on the world stage and how that evolution is reflected in today's Chinese cinema.
Steve and Yushun, do you have some thoughts after listening to that conversation?
Yeah.
In the beginning of the chat he talked about, the professor talked about how opera, Chinese opera, Peking opera was a driving force for the first films, where you take something that was traditional and then it sounds like they just took it and put it on screen with a lot of the similar aspects of it.
And that was the beginning.
But when you fast forward all the way to today, even with films like Nuja, which is yeah, of course it's an animated film, but you're still telling stories of Chinese history there.
There are elements of it even in the design of the animation.
Which I think is a really cool thing about Chinese art is that you had your beginnings, but it was draped in Chinese history and culture.
And even decades and decades and decades and decades and decades later, you're still creating films, although with new tech and the hottest actors and the best animators, but it's still draped in Chinese culture.
And I just think that's a wonderful thing.
Yeah, it's always been fascinating to see all of these traditional culture kind of thing to be showcased, no matter when.
We are having that kind of film.
And also another thing I am really agree with when they were talking about the taste of nowadays audiences.
I know it's been evolved.
I mean, of course, audiences has been, I would say picky, more and more picky now because we have seen so many good works works nowadays.
But with today's film works, what we can see is that more of the works are getting into like normal people's lives and they're telling some stories of some normal people and that Sometimes they can get huge box office nowadays.
And I really like that because it is not, I mean, art is from our life.
That has been said by a lot of people.
And it is so good to see and have a vision of when we are all having that kind of artistry in our life, and we can also see them in the film.
Yeah, I would say everyday people's lives.
And I think those movies, especially in recent years, when you look at what's topping the box office in China, considering this is the biggest movie market around the world, rivaling with the North America, that of North America and also movies having such a long history.
And today we're celebrating 120th anniversary of Chinese film.
I think inevitably we'll see that movie as an entertainment.
Its status in people's lives have changed as well.
It's no longer the like top three things that you do to consume entertainment either.
So what kind of story, what kind of production can actually draw people to buy a ticket and go into the cinema or even pay for um live stream membership to watch it online?
And I think Yushun, you make a very good point.
That is, stories that truly resonate with everyday people, regardless of this market you're talking about.
And here in China, I guess, at least looking at the numbers in recent years then it's stories that truly resonate with the Chinese people.
And it could be about medical reform, the difficulty in getting some of those very specialized drugs.
It could be about the gender equality.
It could be about people's changing perception towards love and marriage and things that truly touch that sensitive nerve of people.
I think it's really interesting to look at movie not only as sort of a way of entertainment consumption, but what really captures the hearts and imaginations of the people of a particular destination market.
And I find it fascinating to see how it's developed. here in China.
And well, looking at 120 years of cinema and so many milestones here, I'm curious which first jump out at you and why.
For me.
I haven't seen the film, but if we go back to 1982, the Shaolin Temple, the Jet Li movie, right.
I remember that.
Do you really?
Was that a big deal at the time?
It was before Yushun and I were born, for sure, but...
I feel like every time when we review Chinese cinema, this is one movie you have to talk about.
And we love revisiting it and looking at the very young Jet Li with the amazing moves he's got.
Yeah, I mean, he was just amazing, right?
The Shaolin Temple was the first one.
Then there was the Kids of Shaolin.
Then there was the Martial Arts of Shaolin.
And those all came out within a few years of each other, I think.
But the importance of the film, yeah, it had unprecedented box office success.
It grossed over 100 million yuan.
That's almost 14 million yuan.
Remember, this is 1982.
And that's great.
But I think the more important thing is that it ignited this kind of commercial wave of martial arts films.
And the 1982 film, The Shaolin Temple, it won a lot of awards.
And then later it got released in other regions and other countries.
And it set new box office records at that time.
But Jet Li and those types of films set the stage for other great martial artists.
And just those styles of films that became such hot hits internationally.
Because those are moves... I mean, in the West...
I've never met anybody who can do those types of things.
And I'm thinking even here in China, looking at artists like Jackie Chan and Jet Li.
It's not common to find people who can do those types of things either, I guess.
Yeah, what like caught my attention is that we have so many more options when we get to choose different size of the screens, different types of the like cinemas.
And the first widescreen color film in China is called The Adventure of a Magician and is.
It was produced by the Shanghai Tema Film Studio in 1962.
That 47-minute film was mainly shot in Shanghai, and the movie presented Shanghai, as it appeared at that time, from the perspective of a magician returning from overseas.
Because that really astonished me that we had that kind of widescreen color film in 1962, when I can see that all of these IMAX, Dolby Vision, huge screen movies right now.
And it's like going through that time machine and go back to to that time of Shanghai and really astonished me.
China is now home to a growing constellation of film festivals from the internationally recognized Shanghai International Film Festival and Beijing International Film Festival.
To their prestigious awards such as the Golden Goblet and Tiantan Awards.
27 top film and TV professionals from China and abroad, and nearly three quarters of submissions coming from overseas.
The awards are using film and TV as a bridge, facilitating cultural change, fostering dialogue and celebrating stories that connect us all.
Tomorrow we continue the Golden Panda movie discussion with a look at technology and the marvels of modern cinema.
