Window of Opportunity

开篇：润墨网以专业的文秘视角，为您筛选了一篇Window of Opportunity范文，如需获取更多写作素材，在线客服老师一对一协助。欢迎您的阅读与分享！

Ten minutes before the final showing of Memories Look at Me at the Lumière Pavilions cinema complex in downtown Nanjing， Wei Xidi received a call from a friend， a last-gasp attempt to buy two tickets. There were only four tickets left in the 40-seater screening room， each for the price of 40 yuan （US$6.3）.

This low-budget 2012 arthouse movie cost 1 million yuan （US$159，000） to make， and had been showing at Lumière for five weeks， the first two of which had completely sold out. Getting this “niche” film into the comparatively large Lumière Pavilions is just one victory in an ongoing arthouse film crusade for Rear window Film （RWF）， a project launched by movie critic Wei Xidi and a group of his friends.

Word of Mouth

Memories Look at Me tells the story about a young woman’s trip back to her parents’home in Nanjing. Every scene begins with a family dining， chatting and reminiscing about the past. The movie won Best Debut Feature Film at the 65th Locarno International Film Festival acclaim that， while certainly a boost to RWF’s confidence， failed to pave the way for a screening in Chinese cinemas.

“These movies are classified as arthouse movies， which are usually more independent and strongly stylistic. They are less commercial. This kind of low-budget movie has artistic and philosophical depth， and requires an open mind，” said Wei Xidi， movie critic and director of RWF. “There are people who like this kind of movie. However many have taken for granted that low-budget movies are only to be watched at home. Watching movies is a ritual conducted in darkness， and movies should go back to where they are supposed to be.”

Wei Xidi has been active on online movie forums for years. In 1998， he founded one of China’s first arthouse movie online discussion groups. The group was named “Watching Movies Through the Rear Window，” a concept that later became the inspiration for the RWF project.

This May， RWF reached an agreement with the producer of Memories Look at Me to take charge of the movie’s sales， promotion and screening.

“There were no competitors when we were negotiating，” said Shuiguai， COO of RWF.“Most distribution companies prefer movies with greater commercial potential. Usually the producer of the movie would also share a certain proportion of the distribution cost. However， there was no budget for distribution from the producer of Memories Look at Me. There was little chance that other distributors would take on the movie.”

Song Fang， director of Memories Look at Me， has lived in Nanjing since he was twelve. The dialogue in the movie was in Nanjing dialect， and Rear Window Film selected Nanjing for its first screening.

At the first two screenings in Nanjing， Wei waited at the theater’s exit， conducting an adhoc opinion poll. To his surprise， he found that the film had succeeded in pulling in not only the local art set， but also the general public. Also， Wei had invited a large number of media and publishing industry types， whose approval soon translated into highly effective word-of-mouth promotion.

“We were greatly inspired. Although the movie is very artistic and not so dramatic， ordinary people were touched by the movie’s language and a feeling of empathy with people who are far from home. This was beyond our expectations，” Wei said. “This kind of movie spreads slowly. It’s not like a commercial movie. Even advertising on buses won’t help. The only way this kind of movie gathers pace is through word of mouth.”

In the first two weeks， Memories Look at Me was only screened at weekends. However， when these began to sell out， two extra screenings were added.

Breaking the Mainstream

Arthouse movies， cheap to make and with the potential to collect international film festival accolades， are becoming an area of interest for private movie studios in China. However， since arthouse movies almost never make it onto the schedules at major cinemas， producers face difficulty generating enough revenue to cover their costs.

“Negotiating with cinemas about screenings is like extracting a tiger’s tooth，” said Gao Da， administrative director for film screenings with RWF. Because of the low budget for promotion， even if a movie manages to be accepted by large cinemas， it will usually be pulled relatively quickly due to low audience numbers.

When this happens， the rights to the movie are generally sold to TV channels or websites at prices that do not reflect the true market value of the product. Ultimately， the movie may never be released.

“It is a pipedream for a movie with a budget of one to two million yuan to be listed on cinema schedules. High distribution costs are more than enough to keep them out in the cold，” said Shuiguai， COO of RWF. “It’s not that large cinemas don’t recognize the value of arthouse movies， it’s just that commercial movies work on a mechanism that is tailored to the market， similar to fast-moving consumer goods. It’s hard for arthouse mov-ies to fit in.”

Since the beginning of the cooperation between Lumière Pavilions in Nanjing and Wei’s team in 2011， there have been a number of youth movie director festivals that have seen arthouse movies screened in cinemas. Attendances were around 30-40 percent in the beginning， but when the directors themselves started attending screenings， these numbers went up 70-80 percent.

Lumière Pavilions now shows more than ten arthouse movies a month， screening each three or four times. However， the weekend box office takings for these movies were little more than 9，000 yuan （US$1430） far short of the usual weekend box office income of 70 to 80 thousand yuan （US$11，000 to 12，000） per film per day.

While making schedules for arthouse movies， cinemas intentionally avoid peak times like school vacations and New Year holidays， usually screening in slot times that would otherwise be vacant. For example， the Lumière Pavilions’ Lüdi cinema in Nanjing shows 30-40 movies per day， across seven screens. However， only one or two of these slots are reserved for arthouse movies.

“Arthouse movies are at the mercy of theater scheduling. It is the same everywhere. Cinemas can decide what to show and how many times， and what time a movie is played. But many cinemas are not interested in[screening arthouse films]， because their ultimate purpose is to make money. In this respect， an unprofitable movie is no match for a blockbuster，” said Zhao Dandan， general manager of Nanjing Lumière Pavilions. “We show arthouse movies because the director of our company is interested in them. Lumière Pavilions in Beijing， Hangzhou， Xi’an and Chengdu all screen arthouse films. We hope that screening arthouse， rather than merely pursuing box-office revenue， can be a longterm strategy. If the ticket sales can balance management costs， then it’s fine.”

Patience

With low budgets， dearth of special ef- fects and generally unknown casts， arthouse movies are usually slow to gain recognition in China， if they manage to at all. The RWF’s Screening Director Gao Da told NewsChina that it was impossible for art movies to be screened for more than three weeks.

On May 13， RWF announced on Weibo， China’s Twitter equivalent， that it would be cooperating with more cinemas in an effort to persuade them to open their schedules to arthouse movies. The announcement won support from many movie industry insiders.

“This is not a project that can rake in revenue in the short term. But it is important. We invested in the project because we are interested in it，” said Wei Xidi， adding that arthouse movies generally appeal to a highbrow， niche market.

In the past three months， RWF has distributed more than ten movies， usually using test screenings to generate a buzz.

RWF does not ask for agency fees from the producer during distribution， and when the movie is released， about 55-60 percent of the profit is shared with the cinema. Then， after paying a special “fund tax，” the RWF shares the profit with the producer.

Currently， RWF is still losing money on distribution. “Presently， we are promoting the arthouse movie project，” said Wei. “It is meaningless to think about profit， because box-office takings are too small. For now， the most important thing is to increase exposure and recognition for the movies， their directors and producers. This is also what producers are looking for.”

During the weekend screenings， Wei Xidi and Gao Da usually sit in the cinema’s tearoom， greeting friends and chatting with them about movies. Presently， Rear Window is cooperating with 25 cinemas in 18 cities nationwide.

“Our ‘opening page’ has exceeded our expectations. We need more resources， and we are trying to attract more people，” said Wei Xidi. “I want to give it a shot it is easier than it looks. I just need to go to every city to negotiate， cinema by cinema， slot by slot.”