"Wandering Earth" Director Guo Fan said the industrial development of China's film industry is not mature yet, and the biggest advantage that the Chinese filmmakers can take of is their national culture.

"Wandering Earth" director Guo Fan speaks at a forum about the efficiency and efficacy of the film industry during the Shanghai International Film Festival, which will run until Monday, June 24. [Photo: siff.com]

"When a Chinese film director chooses a project, an additional criterion should be considered if the story conveys strong messages about Chinese culture. If so, we may undertake it. But if without, why should we bother to make a film that filmmakers from other nations can also produce? At the current stage, Chinese filmmakers had better work on the projects highlighting unique Chinese culture, where their advantage would become noticeable," said Guo.

Labeled as a sci-fi film director, Guo said a distinctive style of Chinese sci-fi film hasn't been set up yet: "From my point of view, China is not ready to make soft sci-fi films yet. There's a logical order in it. We may find there are both lots of soft and hard science fiction films in Hollywood. But the hard sci-fi movie, a category characterized by dedicated attention on scientific accuracy and logic, came first to serve as a foundation. Hollywood filmmakers spent decades on making hard sci-fi movies, which paved the way for the growth of soft sci-fi films thereafter."

A forum on new science fiction movie-making technology was a major event at the Shanghai International Film Festival, which will run until Monday, June 24. [Photo: siff.com]

The director is one of the speechmakers at a forum that discussed the efficiency and efficacy of the film industrial system during the Shanghai International Film Festival.

Guo rose to fame from his smash hit 'The Wandering Earth', based on works by Liu Cixin, who has endeavored to create a distinctly Chinese style of science fiction.