The Shanghai Cultural Development Foundation made an official announcement yesterday, a total of 89 projects benefited from the Shanghai Film Industry Development Fund in 2020.
14 projects were funded for early development which included 4 animations. 15 projects were funded for script development. 17 films were funded as “important projects”, which included documentary One More Day, about Chinese people’s lives during the COVID-19 quarantine. 4 films were funded for early development by young filmmakers and 7 for script development. 10 films were given cash reward for their achievement from all aspects, which included The Wild Goose Lake (being selected at Cannes), Ip Man 4 and Abominable (a coproduction between Pearl Studio and Universal which gained international box-office success). 5 films were funded for post-production. 5 films were funded for location shooting in Shanghai. 3 projects were funded for promoting high quality domestic films. 1 industry association received funding for providing location filming and intellectual property services. 4 education organisations received funding for training and education development related projects. 1 company received funding for launching a talent development programme for young filmmakers. 4 films received funding for distribution and P&A. 1 project received a recovery fund which its production was paused during COVID-19 period.
As the evidence shows above, even a coproduction film like Abominable received reward for its achievement and in previous years, it also received funding toward its production. There are many opportunities in Shanghai where British film companies can consider to embrace. Apart from its robust funding mechanism, Shanghai is also the top in the country in terms of annual box-office.
The UCFC continues to focus on Shanghai as an important region for us to foster more links and connections. We will continue to write unique commentary to point out directions where British film companies can seek opportunities.
