The Cannes Film Festival, hosted every May in France, remains one of the most prestigious film events in the world. While China’s film industry has faced headwinds in recent years, interest in Cannes still runs high, fueled by the hope that a new Chinese film might capture international acclaim and join the ranks of timeless classics like Farewell My Concubine, which made history there in 1993.

This year, director Bi Gan’s fantasy epic Resurrection premiered at the festival and received a newly established award for creativity, proposed by this year’s jury president Juliette Binoche and unanimously approved by the jury. Though the film, starring Taiwan actress Shu Qi and former boy band idol Jackson Yee, has yet to hit screens outside the festival and only a brief trailer has been released, Chinese cinephiles are already abuzz with anticipation.

In addition to the main competition, director Qu Zhizheng took second place in this year’s student short film section with his short film 12 Moments Before the Flag-Raising.

Our Middle Earth Podcast host and producer, Aladin Farré, was on the ground in southern France this year, speaking with Qu and other Chinese filmmakers and industry insiders at the festival about how Cannes has influenced Chinese cinema.

Guests:

Cao Liuying is a sales agent at Parallax Films

Clément Magar is the general manager at the Beijing-based Fortissimo Films

Qu Zhizheng is a director, cinematographer, and the second-place winner of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival’s student short film competition (2nd Prize La Cinef 2025) for his film 12 Moments Before the Flag-Raising Ceremony

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The following are excerpts from the transcript of the episode (edited for clarity):

0:50

Aladin: Cannes is one of the most closely watched cultural events in the world. This year alone, it drew 15,000 film professionals, 40,000 film enthusiasts, and 4,500 journalists to a city of just 70,000 residents. Since the 1990s, at least one film from a Chinese territory has been selected for the main competition each year.

Today, we’ll mainly discuss the significance of Cannes for the film industry, how Chinese films can leverage this platform, the evolving landscape of the industry, market, and audience tastes, and overall impressions of this year’s festival.

3:50

Aladin: It might be fun for the audience to hear just how demanding it is to attend a professional event like Cannes. Whenever I tell friends I’m going, they assume it’s all red carpets, selfies with Tom Cruise, and champagne. Liuying and Clément, can you share what it’s really like to experience the festival as a professional?

Cao Liuying: For me, Cannes usually means an incredibly intense period. Everyone is super busy because Cannes isn’t just about watching films—it’s also a major networking platform that people want to make the most of. Our days are typically divided into short 30-minute slots, and every meeting has to be carefully scheduled. It’s all about saying, ‘Hey, I’m free from this time to that time,’ and making sure every minute counts. Especially if you’ve rented a booth, which is a big investment, you don’t want it sitting empty. On top of that, the official Cannes program is really enticing. As a cinephile, I want to catch a few films too, but fitting screenings into an already packed meeting schedule feels almost like a mission impossible. So it becomes a constant juggling act—trying to balance everything and make the most of your limited time there.

Clément Magar: My main objective is to connect with people interested in our products and services. This year, our lineup was small, featuring just three new titles, with only one that we believe has strong sales potential. Although the movie isn’t finished yet, it’s important to introduce it to buyers. Even if contracts aren’t signed on the spot, it’s very important that buyers know about the film.

Even though you’re just a very small part of the festival, it can still feel pretty overwhelming.

6:39

Aladin: In the age of the internet, when screeners can be sent and Zoom meetings easily arranged, what’s the point of still attending a film festival in person and renting an expensive booth?

Cao: Even in the age of the internet, I still think face-to-face connection is incredibly important. In a first meeting with someone new, you often spend 30 minutes in a very rigid and boring conversation. But after attending two or three market screenings together, you start to build a real connection, and suddenly, you discover something interesting about the person. That’s when the interaction truly becomes meaningful. Also, for some market screenings, especially for films that aren’t available online yet, it’s essential to be there in person.

While attending screenings isn’t necessarily a core part of a sales agent’s role, I’m always curious about new projects, and since I’m also involved in curating work and programming, I find it especially worthwhile. It’s a great starting point to find a director or producer who impressed you and follow up with them—chances are, they’ll go on to create more interesting projects in the coming years.

Magar: I also ask myself this question quite often. In the past 10 years, the two movies that did really well financially, I never met the clients in person. My colleague always tries to get me to go to parties, but how many contracts do you bring back from those parties? None.

My conclusion is that it’s valuable to attend one or two in-person events like this each year. It’s not necessarily about signing contracts on the spot—whether a film sells ultimately depends on its quality. The real value of these festivals lies in the market intelligence you gain through meetings. You get to talk to people from all over the world and learn about what’s happening in their markets.

10:40

Aladin: Congratulations, Qu Zhizheng, on winning second place in the student short film category! Can you tell us how you made the film, how it was selected for Cannes, and what the festival experience has meant for you?

Qu Zhizheng: My film is about a student in Beijing who is determined to start a flag-raising team, but faces many challenges along the way. I submitted it through the Cannes website, and two months later, I received an email saying it had been selected.

Aladin: You made it sound super easy, but just for the audience’s reference, over 2,700 short films have been sent to that selection, and around 10 or 12 are being screened. The selection ratio is quite low.

Qu: It’s been a really awesome experience for me. Everyone here loves film, and there are many events for young filmmakers. I also really enjoyed the weather here: the sunshine and beaches. We go swimming every day. That’s probably why we didn’t come back with any contracts.

12:25

Aladin: How does being selected for a major film festival like Cannes, Toronto, Berlin, or Venice impact a film’s lifespan and a director’s career?

Magar: Being selected for a major festival is obviously a great starting point—it puts the film on buyers’ radar and gives buyers a reason to spend time watching it. But for most of the Chinese films we sell, especially those without big-name directors, even a festival premiere won’t lead to offers if the film doesn’t resonate with buyers’ markets or audiences. Sometimes a festival program appeals more to cinephiles, critics, or journalists, but doesn’t align with what mainstream markets want, so there can be a disconnect between festival success and actual market potential.

Cao: We need to differentiate between different festivals as well. For example, I think Cannes is a very special festival that has a great influence on sales. If your film is selected for the official program at Cannes, I think its sales performance is almost guaranteed to reach the next level. On the other hand, if your film is selected for something like Berlin International Film Festival’s Panorama section—even though it’s an official selection—it doesn’t necessarily mean it will sell, especially for films from Asia or China. That’s because the program is often curated for cinephiles rather than the broader market, and Berlin is known for leaning toward arthouse films.

14:48

Aladin: How are Chinese films doing on the international market?

Magar: If you look at the numbers, not many Chinese movies are actually released widely around the world. Most of the releases you see are what we call community releases—films shown mainly for Chinese communities in places like the US, UK, and Australia. Every year, some Chinese box-office hits get released in these markets, but they mostly target local Chinese audiences.

Even among the films we sell, only a few get theatrical releases in multiple countries. Among our titles, the only wide theatrical release was the animated film Deep Sea. We’ve also seen a couple of Chinese movies get global releases on Netflix, which is positive, but apart from that, the international reach remains quite limited.

The reality—and this is actually somewhat good news—is that buyers often don’t focus heavily on whether a film is Chinese or not. We’re not Hollywood. So, for non-Hollywood, non-local films, buyers care more about the content than the country of origin. Right now, we mostly focus on genres that travel better internationally. China is strong in certain genres like animation and wuxia films, though interest in wuxia seems to be declining.

Overall, I don’t think about selling “Chinese movies” to the world so much as I think about whether a strong, well-made genre film can find an audience internationally.

Cao: In the Chinese film industry right now, there are basically two ends of the spectrum. On one side, you have mainstream commercial films that generally don’t focus much on the overseas market, unless they become huge box office hits like Ne Zha and then start considering international revenue. For the most part, these commercial films rely heavily on the large and self-sufficient Chinese market.

On the other side, there are independently made films. It’s very difficult to finance films in China these days, so the middle ground—films that are both commercially viable and artistically driven—is almost empty.

Independent films care a lot about festivals, but sales remain a major challenge. Most deals for these films aren’t global sales; they tend to be small-scale releases or streaming platform deals.

18:17

Aladin: Zhizheng, do you see Cannes as a stepping stone for your career and your work? How do you think this experience will influence your future?

Qu: To be honest, I’m not quite sure what my next steps will be. After winning the prize, some jury members reached out and offered to connect me with an American producer if I wanted to make my first feature. I see Cannes as a great opportunity to meet people from different parts of the industry and broaden my horizons overall.

20:35

Magar: It’s very hard to find bigger-budget genre films that can travel in China now. Resurrection is a good example—it’s made by a young but already award-winning director, features movie stars, has high production value, and fits into the fantasy epic genre. It’s the kind of project we’re actively seeking. And of course, it went to Cannes, so it’s really at the top level.

I haven’t seen the film yet, so I can’t say whether it will sell, but from what I understand, it leans toward arthouse and auteur cinema. In Western countries, there’s a market for big, auteur-driven competition films. The issue is that in China, there just aren’t many films like this being made right now—and that’s the real challenge we’re facing.

22:14

Aladin: Liuying and Clément, as industry professionals, what advice would you give Zhizheng and young artists like him?

Cao: I always tell filmmakers to follow their heart, though I admit that might not be the most practical advice when it comes to surviving in today’s market. Zhizheng told me he wanted to make a documentary about his grandmother. We were actually in a meeting with a French distributor and sales agent, and when we mentioned Zhizheng’s new project, their reaction was, “That’s going to be hard. No documentaries.” But at the end of the day, if a director truly wants to make something, they should go for it.

Qu: I know short films are really hard to sell because no one wants to watch a short film in the theater or on TV. But at the same time, short films are freer, and you can shoot whatever you want.

Aladin: From my understanding, short films are essentially a stepping stone to making a feature—no one really makes money from them. The main value is getting selected by festivals, which puts you on the radar of film curators, producers, and others in the industry. That exposure can then lead to opportunities for developing a feature project.

24:15

Aladin: I was quite surprised during my time in Beijing that whenever I spoke with directors about submitting their films to festivals, many of them would say, “We already tried our luck with Cannes and got rejected, so we don’t want to bother sending it anywhere else.” It was interesting to see how Cannes holds such a strong magnetism for filmmakers. I think we often focus so much on Cannes that we forget there’s an entire ecosystem of film festivals around the world, many with a specific genre focus. I feel that some directors in China could benefit from exploring these so-called “B-list” festivals. Cannes tends to suck the oxygen out of the room, and as a result, other valuable festivals don’t get the recognition they deserve in China.

Cao: I think you’re absolutely right. This happens all the time when we talk to filmmakers. They all aim for what we call the “big three” festivals: Cannes, Berlin, and Venice. Beyond those, they often don’t bother submitting or don’t even want to try.

But as you said, the global festival circuit is a systematic ecosystem. The idea of A-list versus B-list festivals can actually feel a bit arbitrary to us, since it’s largely based on a list created by producer associations that categorizes festivals often in ways that don’t reflect the actual opportunities available to filmmakers.

That said, A-list festivals do carry practical value for some Chinese productions. If a film wins an award at one of these festivals, it can qualify for local subsidies from the region where the film is registered in China. But beyond that, this A or B-list distinction doesn’t mean much. In fact, there are many festivals outside the so-called A-list that might be even more useful—especially for genre films or queer cinema. Genre festivals often attract niche buyers, and queer festivals bring in strong networks of LGBTQ+ programmers and distributors.

For independent filmmakers, festivals are about building your resume and finding your audience. It’s better to keep trying your luck with a range of festivals rather than putting all your hopes on just one.

Magar: Chinese producers tend to focus on Cannes, mainly because those are the only festivals most audiences in China recognize—Cannes, Venice, Berlin, and maybe Tokyo, since it’s nearby. Outside of those, it’s true that other festivals don’t do much for a film’s domestic marketing.

But what producers sometimes don’t realize is that when we go to festivals, our main goal is to support international sales, not domestic distribution. So there’s a bit of a disconnect. Many Chinese filmmakers haven’t traveled much internationally, especially if they’re based in China and don’t speak English. Naturally, they only know the most high-profile names. Part of our job is to help bridge that gap, to talk to producers and explain the value of other festivals, including genre-specific ones or festivals they may have never heard of.

29:26

Aladin: Any last words?

Qu: Every festival is like a game: It’s about luck, choice, and politics. Just make the film you want to make.

Cao: Everyone should go to Cannes at least once in their life—you’ll always find a way to be part of the festival, whether you’re a cinephile, a professional, or someone with no direct connection to cinema. There’s something for everyone to enjoy.