UK/China Agree Film Finance Treaty

A new treaty has been signed between the UK and China that will allow greater financial assistance and support to British/Chinese film co-productions.

Negotiated for the UK by the British Film Institute (BFI), with support from the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) and UK Trade & Investment in Beijing, the deal will allow qualifying British/Chinese co-productions to access benefits including finance and an easier passage to audiences.
The treaty was signed on 23 April by UK Culture Minister Ed Vaizey and Vice Minister Tong Gang of the State Administration of Radio, Film & Television (SARFT), as part of Mr Vaizey's government delegation to precipitate new collaboration between the two countries.
In the UK, benefits of the deal will include the Film Tax Relief and the BFI Film Fund, which is the UK’s largest public film fund. Eligible co-productions will not be subject to China’s quota on foreign films, which only permits a limited number of non-domestic titles to be shown in Chinese cinemas each year.
Culture Minister Ed Vaizey said: “The treaty will strengthen ties between our countries’ film industries, encouraging the sharing of knowledge and ideas as well as driving economic growth through film production. It will also enhance our respective cultural understanding and awareness through the making of films that reflect, enhance and convey the diversity of culture and heritage in both countries.”
Also announced was a partnership between the National Theatre of Great Britain and the National Theatre of China that will lead to a Chinese-language production of War Horse in autumn 2015 at the National Theatre of China’s theatre in Beijing, before a tour across China beginning in Shanghai.
British-based KT Wong Foundation revealed it will be launching a series of Young Directors’ Residences in conjunction with the Young Vic theatre company later this year. The scheme aims to encourage emerging talent from China and the UK to develop skills, merge respective disciplines and provide a platform to create new content together.

Image: If You Are the One (2008), directed by Feng Xiaogang, recently the subject of a BFI retrospective and a sign of the emergence of Chinese cinema within the European cultural consciousness (courtesy of BFI National Archive)

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