"Wandering Earth" Director Guo Fan says the industrial development of China's film industry is not mature yet, and the biggest advantage for Chinese filmmakers is their national culture.

 

《流浪地球》导演郭帆表示，中国电影业的工业发展尚未成熟，中国制片人最大的优势是其民族文化。
 

 

"I want to cite an example," Guo said. "How should a director choose a film project among 100 film scripts? A good story is an important criterion, under which 95 film scripts may be less than adequate. Eventually we have five good stories to enter our final considerations. In this case, an additional criterion should be considered if the story gives strong messages about our Chinese culture. If so, we may undertake it. But if not, why should we bother to make a film that filmmakers from other nations can also produce?"

 

Guo's smash hit 'The Wandering Earth' is based on works by Liu Cixin, who has endeavored to create a distinctly Chinese style of science fiction. Also, critics attribute the film's domestic success to its unique cultural context in that it tells a story Chinese people are quite familiar with. For instance, the Chinese people in the film wanted to help make the Earth rotate as it was coming to a halt. Some critics have pointed¹ out that this plot point is linked with Chinese farming culture.

 

Labeled as a science fiction director, Guo continued to say that a style of Chinese sci-fi film hasn't been set up yet. He believes that China is not ready to make 'soft' sci-fi films, which put more focus on characters, culture and sociology.

 

"There's a logical order in it. We may find there are both lots of soft and hard science fiction films in Hollywood. But the hard sci-fi movie, a category characterized by dedicated³ attention on scientific accuracy and logic², came first to serve as a foundation," Guo said. "Hollywood filmmakers spent decades making hard sci-fi movies, which paved the way for the growth of soft sci-fi films thereafter. China is still young in making sci-fi films"

 

There's a whole new world in sci-fi film. Moviegoers will first have to believe in such a world before getting fascinated with it. "So gaining their trust is important, otherwise they wouldn't be interested in the characters as well as their emotions in the films," Guo Fan said.

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