This year, TIES THAT BIND reaches its milestone tenth edition. The Chinese Film Market had an exclusive interview with Mr. Alessandro Gropplero, the coordinator of the program, to talk about its uniqueness, his impression on Chinese projects and suggestions for Chinese applicants.
CFM: What kinds of help and support will the film projects and producers get from TIES THAT BIND?
Alessandro Gropplero: Through their participation at TIES THAT BIND producers will learn a great deal about the Asian and European audio-visual landscapes and the crucial legal aspects of co-producing. They will receive high level practical preparation for their projects (script development, financing structure, marketing and pitching) which will immediately strengthen their capacity to move forward more rapidly in the industry and increase their chances of finding relevant partners.
In the short term all participants will have unique access to a network of key industry players, professional feedback, decision makers and financiers.
For the medium to long term each producer will be in a considerably stronger position to operate successfully in the Asian and European industries through becoming part of a large community of film professionals keen to co-produce between the two continents.
CFM: In the past edition of Ties That Bind, which project from China impressed you most within all past feature film projects?
Alessandro Gropplero: In the last editions of TTB we had several Chinese participants and the most interesting aspect is probably not about one single project but about the variety of participants’ profiles. We had the chance to welcome big players working on more genre project with high budget and at the same time small independent producers who were developing festival driven arty film. This big contrast perfectly reflects the two different souls of the large Chinese film industry.
CFM: What’s your suggestion for those Chinese applicants of TTB? How should they prepare for their group work sessions？
Alessandro Gropplero: The whole workshop is primarily based on the exchange of point of views, feedback and advice amongst all participants so all attending producers are supposed to carefully read all materials, such as scripts, financing plans, directors’ notes of intention and marketing strategies. The most important input that a Chinese participant could offer to all other producers is to tell whether the story and the characters could fit the Chinese market.
CFM: What’s the difference between European and Asian film projects in terms of creative ideas and style？
Alessandro Gropplero: If we speak about arty projects, Asian films compared to Europeans are certainly more imaginative, and in many cases they have a spiritual connotation mixing reality with imaginary. On the production side the size of the budget of these projects is smaller but the production value is still very high.
CFM: How should Chinese films improve their influence in the European film market?
Alessandro Gropplero: I do not know if there is a clear recipe but Chinese producers might improve their presence in the European film market by strengthening creative co-productions, basing their cooperation not only on financial partnership but also on the joint use of artistic elements from both sides of the world.