The Golden Age of Chinese Documentaries

      “Chinese documentaries are expected to enter a golden age with an increasing number of young fans and multi-media platforms for marketing and distribution," insiders and experts told at a TV forum at the 21st Shanghai TV Festival.

      Recently the documentary film Mr. Deng Goes to Washington has been hailed by both audience and critics, making more than 12 million yuan at the box office.

      Producer Lv Muzi said that the documentary film genre is of great market potential in China.

      "It is a commercial documentary film," said Lv. "We took into account the tastes of today\'s audience. We also included visually impressive scenes in the film."

      Lei Jianjun, a scholar from Tsinghua University said that the documentary film genre is becoming increasingly popular among cinema-goers. Convenient online communication and ticketing tools will also increase  sales f or  documentary  films.

      According to Li Tao, deputy director of Shanghai Media Group\'s Documentary Channel, documentary needs more novel and wider screening channels today.

      "The artistic boundaries for documentaries are also blurring these days," said Li. "More documentary-style reality series are emerging."

      Yesterday the Documentary Channel, a national satellite channel also announced their new international documentary co-production projects with top-notch production and broadcasting platforms of the world including BBC Worldwide, Discovery Networks International, A+E Networks, KBS TV and MBC. Investment in production for all these Chinese themed documentary projects will total 160 million yuan. All the co-production projects are set in China, telling stories of Chinese culture, nature, history and people. They will be aired on both local and overseas channels.