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| Company type | State-run film distributor,production company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Chinese cinema |
| Founded | August 1, 1952; 73 years ago (1952-08-01) |
| Founders | People's Liberation Army |
| Headquarters | , China |
Key people | Huang Hong |
| Products | film |
| August First Film Studio | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 八一電影製片廠 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 八一电影制片厂 | ||||||
| |||||||
August First Film Studio, orBayi Film Studio (Chinese: 八一电影制片厂;pinyin:Bāyī diànyǐng zhì piàn chǎng), is the only militaryfilm studio in China. Founded on August 1, 1952, it is a comprehensive film studio with the production capacity of feature films, battlefield documentaries, military education films, news documentaries, national defense scientific research films, TV dramas and other films. The unit's main business area is located inFengtai District, Beijing, and consists of Wang Zuo Film and Television Base and Hubei Film and Television Base.[1]
In March 1951, with the approval of the Culture and Education Commission and theCentral Military Commission of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China, the Military Education Film Studio of the General Political Department of the Central Military Commission was launched to provide the People's Liberation Army with its own documentary film production facilities following the best practices in the world.
On August 1, 1952, PLA Day, the studio was officially opened and named the People's Liberation Army Film Studio (Chinese:解放军电影制片厂) in honour of the PLA'ssilver jubilee. In the early days of the studio, it mainly produced military educational films and news documentaries. In 1955, the studio was granted funding to produce feature films on its own, breaking a brief monopoly by theChina Film Group Corporation. From then on, PLA Film and CFGC carried a duopoly in the Chinese film industry until the 1990s.
In 1956, it was rebranded as August First (Bayi) Film Studio.
The 1963 August First Studio filmSerfs is a movie depicting the fictional story of a young man named Jampa who grows up as a serf in Tibet and takes refuge as a monk in a monastery.[2]: 198–199 The plot is agender-reversed version ofThe White-Haired Girl archetype: Jampa has been rendered after being beaten by for eating food offerings at a Buddhist altar and is rescued fromserfdom by his childhood girlfriend Namga (now a Communist Party cadre) who arrives with the People's Liberation Army.[2]: 199 LikeThe White-Haired Girl,Serfs is part of the genre of redemptive melodrama.Serf were part of a genre of redemptive melodramas, which sought to encourage audiences to "speak bitterness".[3]: 183 Portraying traditional Tibetan society as feudal, the movie was intended to advance China's narrative of civilizing Tibet.[2]: 198–199 The cast included Tibetans who were former serfs.[2]: 199
The August First Film Studio produced two military pedagogical films which were widely shown throughout theCultural Revolution decade,Landmine Warfare andTunnel Warfare.[3]: 167 Set during theSecond Sino-Japanese War,Landmine Warfare depicts villagers who become guerillas bury homemade mines to oppose Japanese invaders.[3]: 167 Tunnel Warfare depicts villagers who become guerillas and build a network of tunnels in which invading enemy troops ultimately become trapped.[3]: 167 Tunnel Warfare highlighted the principles discussed in Mao's pamphletOn Protracted War and also taught viewers how to build underground bunkers.[3]: 167 Tunnel Warfare was viewed approximately 1.8 billion times.[3]: 167
Bayi Film Studio adheres to the direction of serving the people and serving socialism, and implements the policy of "letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend", reflecting the struggle and life of the PLA through its history and on the military history of the Chinese nation at large over the centuries, and shaping the screen image of outstanding servicemen and women, to educate the PLA in general on socialism, patriotism, collectivism and revolutionary heroism, and to promote the revolutionization, modernization and regularization of the forces to all Chinese and viewers globally.
In April 1982, the monthly magazine "August 1st Film" was first published, which is a comprehensive film publication focusing on film literature.
August Film Studio's 1983 filmCrossing the Chishui River Four Times featuredGu Yue playing the role ofMao Zedong.[4]: 169 MarshalYe Jianying chose Gu for the role over other performers because of his close physical resemblance to Mao.[4]: 169
In January 1995, it was renamed "Chinese and Foreign Military Film and Television - August 1st Studio". In 2018, according to the decision of the Central Military Commission, it was renamed anew as the Film and Television Production Department of the PLA Cultural and Art Center of the Political Work Department, keeping the Bayi Studio as its primary brand for its productions.[1]
As of 2014, more than 2,200 films (series) of various kinds have been produced. Among them were:
Among them, 78 won the Excellent Film Award of the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television of the People's Republic of China, 30 won the Literary and Art Award of theChinese People's Liberation Army, 12 won the Excellent Film Award of the General Political Department, and 11 won the Excellent Film Award of the General Staff and the General Political Department. Military Education Film Award, 33 films won the Excellent Film Award of the General Staff Department, 10 films won the "Popular Film" Hundred Flowers Award, 19 films won the Golden Rooster Award for Chinese Films, 3 films won the Golden Bridge Award for Chinese Documentary Series, and 1 film won the National Youth and Children's Literature and Art Works Creation Award; 3 people won the "Popular Film" Hundred Flowers Award for individual awards, and 44 people won the Chinese Film Golden Rooster Awards for individual awards. In addition, 13 films and 11 people have won awards internationally.
"Youth" directed byFeng Xiaogang was released at the end of 2017.
The main operating area of the Bayi Film Studio of the Chinese People's Liberation Army is located in Fengtai District, Beijing, and it consists of two studios, Wangzuo Film and Television Studio Complex and Hubei Film and Television Studios, which are operated by the studios.
The film and television production teams of Bayi Film Studio includesscript creation, pre-shooting,post-production,technical support,publicity anddistribution and other departments. Professional positions offered included film restoration, color matching,pyrotechnics,scenery setting,costumes, photography maintenance andlighting.[1]
| No. | Name | Chinese name | Took office | Left office | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Situ Huimin | 司徒慧敏 | 1952 | 1953 | |
| 2 | Chen Bo | 陈播 | 1952 | 1966 | |
| 3 | Zhang Shaoting | 张少庭 | 1966 | 1968 | |
| 4 | Peng Bo | 彭渤 | 1968 | 1975 | |
| 5 | Liu Jia | 刘佳 | 1975 | 1978 | |
| 6 | Zhang Jinghua | 张景华 | 1978 | 1985 | |
| 7 | Xiao Mu | 萧穆 | 1985 | 1992 | |
| 8 | Wang Xiaotang | 王晓棠 | 1992 | 1998 | |
| 9 | Zheng Zhenhuan | 郑振环 | 1998 | 2001 | |
| 10 | Ming Zhenjiang | 明振江 | 2001 | 2011 | |
| 11 | Huang Hong | 黄宏 | 2011 | 2015 | [5] |
| 12 | TBD | 2015 | present |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
