At the 7th Hainan Island International Film Festival in China, jury president Marco Müller urged audiences and industry to rethink the event’s place on the calendar, arguing that its slot between AFM and Berlin gives Hainan a unique chance to premiere the films that will define the coming year – not recap the one that’s ending.
Festival jurors acknowledged the challenges facing a young festival in an already overcrowded global film schedule. Speaking at a press conference introducing the festival jury, Müller, jury president for HIIFF’s Golden Coconut Award, attempted to redefine the festival’s schedule, late in the year, as its greatest strategic asset.
Rather than presenting a summary of the current year’s films, Müller argued that the HIIFF could be a platform that introduces groundbreaking films for the year ahead.
“The timing is particularly important,” Müller stated, noting the festival’s placement, sandwiched between AFM in November, and the Berlin Film Festival in February. “The Hainan Film Festival’s schedule happens to provide an opportunity to let young, media and film-obsessed audiences discover the newest films. That is, films that are coming out immediately next year.”
The sense of a festival still finding its footing between domestic focus and an international outlook was also evident in the responses of other jury members to questions ranging from China’s local box office to Asian-American representation in Hollywood.
When asked about the latter, documentary juror and director Renee Tajima-Peña referenced the #OscarsSoWhite campaign and the push for greater AAPI representation in AMPAS.
“We really had to fight to gain a place at the table,” said Tajima-Peña. “When I first started out, Asian Americans were really marginalized in Hollywood, the entertainment business and documentaries.”
“Many of our stories are rooted here in China, and rooted in the Chinese diaspora story, and we are hungry to tell them.”
The press conference also threw up questions which gave insights into how China’s local media views the film industry at the moment. One question contended that the number of scripts entering production are decreasing, investment is becoming cautious, and distribution cycles are lengthening.
In response, veteran Chinese actor Guo Tao suggested that the answer lay in balancing personal artistic expression with commercial sensibilities.
“The current film market needs more filmmakers to uphold the principle of ‘content is king,’ focusing on the story. This is crucial,” said Guo. “We have blockbuster films with high box office returns, while lacking artistic merit. The opposite is also true. We need to find a good balance between the two.”
The event also underscored the festival’s role in cultural diplomacy, with the 50th anniversary of China-Thailand diplomatic relations being celebrated with a series of Chinese-Thai events.
“China and Thailand have always been ‘one family,’” said Thai director Banjong Pisanthanakun, referencing several Thai films that have resonated with Mainland Chinese audiences, like “How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies.”
While promotional posters for Hollywood juggernaut “Avatar: Fire and Ash” line every walkway at the festival grounds, Argentine director Mariano Llinás offered a gentle rebuff to the concept of the blockbuster film.
Llinás urged filmmakers to work on smaller films, and championed a return to intimate productions, a model he has long practiced as a founder of the El Pampero Cine film collective, which prioritizes small films and a revolving repertory cast of friends and family. He advocated for a filmmaking model driven by camaraderie rather than established film industry structures.
“It’s because it’s been made and thought by a small group of people, not by a big enterprise or studio, and that would be the secret for a personal approach to cinema,” said Llinás.
“So I think the idea of making a picture made by friends is the answer. Try to make your pictures small and smaller and they would belong to you in a deeper way.”
