In 2021, we reached an approximate of 50K target audience in both the UK and China, via a series of events, social media campaigns and publications in both languages.

Prologue

2021 was another complex year for many individuals and organisations, in particular those which devote their missions toward encouraging collaboration between the UK and China. While many organisations have now dropped China as their top strategic priority since the outbreak of COVID-19, UK-China Film Collab continued to charge on in 2021 without hesitation.  We were, evidently, the most active organisation continuing our mission without fearing pressure from international media. We are committed to believing in the power of film, its magic to mediate conflicts, transcend misunderstanding and to re-bridge human connection via a mutual appreciation of film.

In addition, as a UK registered non-profit organisation, we are aware that there is still a lack of public knowledge about the Chinese film industry. This unusual landscape has become one of the most powerful markets for film consumption globally. While many European countries have been actively attempting to engage with the Chinese film industry, there is still a missing coherent strategy in the UK to establish a consistent support mechanism. In our opinion, China is the most exciting market for young filmmakers in Great Britain and at the same time, the most challenging one. Despite myths around its censorship, however, miracles and surprises show us that there are still many opportunities waiting for brave and creative filmmakers to explore.

UK-China Film Collab remain optimistic and we see the importance in building a solid support foundation. We are committed to improve communication and public knowledge in both languages, so that barriers can be gradually removed. We believe that our contribution toward this bridging foundation will bring long term benefits to the UK and its future of film industry. Embracing this challenging market will not only bring new creative and entrepreneurial potentials but also opportunities for reformation. So many stories have yet been told and so many business models are yet to be exploited.

We see a bright future and we would like to be the organisation which will contribute a little toward this new adventure.

What did we do in 2021?

Below are our highlighted activities in 2021. We would like to thank all our collaborators last year for their support and cooperation.

February – May: Chinese Cinema Season

3 months, 50+ films, 10 panels and  Q&As, Chinese Cinema Season was the largest online film festival dedicated to Chinese-language cinema in the UK and Europe, co-organised with Trinity CineAsia and Filming East. Apart from organising all the panel discussion for the festival, we particularly curated a themed section titled ‘Hong Kong, Reimagined’ to join in an important pubic debate.

All the panel recordings are available here.

July: Co-releasing ‘1921’ in the UK, UAE and Georgia

Working closely with our distributor partner Trinity CineAsia, we experimented an international film release model for a Chinese film which the business benefited a UK company via existing networks between the UK and the Middle East.

August: Online Screening of  ‘1921’ and Q&A with Professor Astrid Nordin

In order to intervene into public debate about China and the UK’s foreign policy, we organised an online screening for ‘1921’ and invited Professor Astrid Nordin from Lau China Institute, King’s College to be our guest for the post-screening Q&A session. The recording is available here.

August: China Film Market Spotlight

An industry focused online workshop, co-organised with China’s Skywood International and Australia’s Legend Media Group.

September: Workshop for Screen Skill

We delivered a tailor talk for a Screen Skill workshop, to provide advice to UK students and Chinese students who came to study in the UK regarding rising opportunities in the Chinese film market.

September: Future Talent Programme 2021-2022

The Future Talent Programme is our main project every year, where numbers of UK based students will be selected by merit to participate. This year we have recruited 12 new members. In addition to working on their own designed projects, some of them will also support our new activities in 2022. To learn about our new members, please visit here.

October: UK-China film and TV collaboration regarding environmental issues

In collaboration with tve and CBCGDF (China’s leading environmental charity), we c0-organised a seminar event to explore potentials for the UK and China’s film industry to work together addressing environmental issues. More information here.

October: King’s College China Week

We curated and organised two special film screenings as part of King’s College China Week’s programme, which focused on environmental issues. The films choices were ‘Smog Town’ – an independent documentary about a village outside of Beijing and their efforts in reducing air prolusion and ‘The Mermaid’ – a commercially successful genre film which was one of the first to engage mass audiences with environmental issues in China.

November: Liverpool Chinese Film Festival 

In collaboration with Liverpool Confucius Institute, we co-organised the first Liverpool Chinese Film Week and curated 3 films to support the programme. THey were ‘Cloudy Mountain’, ‘A Little Bird Reminds Me’ and ‘The Great Learning’.

November – December: The Six’s limited release in the UK

In collaboration with Picturehouse Cinemas, we released 6 special screenings for The Six in the UK across different cities. Directed by Shanghai based filmmaker Arthur Jones, executive produced by James Cameron, The Six is a documentary which reveals the untold story of 6 Chinese survivors from the Titanic and a great example of what we call ‘film diplomacy’.

December: Partnership with MILC

We established a mutually beneficial relationship between the two parties, sharing the common goal to promote and encourage film related collaboration and debate between Greater China and the UK and across Europe. Press release here.

December: King’s Civic Challenge

We were selected as a community partner to participate in King’s College’s Civic Challenge programme. To learn about what we proposed here.