Professional Interpretation

Abstract: the recent Bingbing Fan reappears and her tax evasion case have drawn people’s attention on film industry again, this essay intend to give a brief introduction to the basic law on film industry rule. On March 1, 2017, the first law in the culture industry in China, Film Industry Promotion Law of the People’s Republic of China, came into force. It somehow reflects the attitude of the Chinese government toward local blooming film industry and exerts the impact on national cinema.

The Film Industry Promotion Law reduces the threshold for entry and simplifies the approval process. Among them, the second paragraph of the law gives a clear definition of the film: the film refers to the use of audio-visual technology and artistic means to film, recorded by film or digital carrier, it consists of a continuous or vocal continuous picture that expresses certain content, conforms to the technical standards set by the state, and is used for public screenings of fixed projection places such as cinemas or mobile projection equipment.

The Film Industry Promotion Law began to allow foreign-funded enterprises to enter the film and television industry. Before that, it was prohibited that foreign investors entered China for investment, filming and distribution of film and television dramas. According to Article 14, legal persons, other organizations approved by the State Council's film authorities may be produced in cooperation with overseas organizations; however, it is not allowed to cooperate with overseas organizations engaged in activities that harm the national dignity, honour and interests, endanger social stability, harm national sentiments, etc., or employ individuals with the above-mentioned behaviors to participate in film production. Therefore, in the future, more overseas companies can participate in domestic film shooting in a cooperative manner.

The Film Industry Promotion Law also protects domestically produced films while opening up the market, especially in Article 29, which clearly stipulates the minimum time for the production of domestic films, the cinema should reasonably arrange for filming by domestic legal persons and other organizations. The number of screenings and time slots, and the duration of the screenings shall not be less than two-thirds of the total length of the annual screenings."

The support for the film industry in Film Industry Promotion Law is more abundant and comprehensive. Article 40 of the Film Industry Promotion Law stipulates that the state encourages financial institutions to provide financing services for film activities and improvement of film infrastructure, conducts intellectual property pledge financing related to movies in accordance with the law, and supports the development of the film industry through credit and other means. The state encourages insurance institutions to develop insurance products that meet the needs of the development of the film industry. The state encourages financing guarantee institutions to provide financing guarantees to the film industry according to law, and to spread risks through re-guarantee, joint guarantee and the combination of guarantee and insurance.

From the drafting to the formal promulgation of the Film Industry Promotion Law, it has gone through 13 years, and the difficulties encountered in the legislative process are also complicated. The development of China's cultural industry is constantly adjusting, especially the emerging film industry, which is changing with each passing day.