After 60 years of life, he has become a realistic version of ＂Fan Movie＂ ｜ Looking back on this decade.

Special feature of 1905 film network The past decade has witnessed the rapid development of China’s film infrastructure.According to statistics, in 2021, the number of national screens reached 82,248, ranking first in the world for six consecutive years. In the past ten years, the number of national screens has increased by 73,048, with a cumulative increase of 694%. According to the latest data released by the State Film Bureau, by the end of September 2021, the total number of county-level cinema screens had increased to 28,525, an increase of 850.83%.

Faced with the increasing number of screens and cinemas, many old cinemas have withdrawn from the historical stage, but many still play a role in enriching people’s spiritual and cultural life. As the national film and television cultural center, they still exist in the streets and alleys of Beijing.

Known as the birthplace of China movies, Daguanlou Cinema, formerly known as the Geological Auditorium of Li Siguang Workshop of the Ministry of Geology, moved to Xidandian, the capital cinema of Xidan Joy City, and is still the first choice cinema for many people.

I have been in contact with film screening since I joined the army at the age of seventeen, and now I am about to retire in the first line of film screening in the geological auditorium. In the past 60 years, movies have played an important role in Wang Jian’s life.

Undoubtedly, Wang Jian can best empathize with the development and progress of China’s film market in the last decade or even a longer period. As a living history of the geological auditorium, he also lived into a realistic version of the "model movie."

Sixty years of life

In December 1962, Wang Jian was born in Beijing. When I was a child, he liked watching movies best, living near Dongsi, and his movie footprint extended from Changhong and Donggong theaters in Dongsi to the geological auditorium in Dongsi.

In November 1980, Wang Jian was drafted into the army and served in the political department of a certain department of Chengdu Military Region. During his service, he first came into contact with the work of film screening. No one ever thought that the first job in life would become the main color in his life for more than forty years.

Photo of the projectionist of the Political Department of Wang Jian’s army (taken in the autumn of 1982)

"First, this is my job. Without movies, there would be no job. Second, movies can increase people’s knowledge. We may not have been anywhere for decades, but you can learn about the customs of other countries through movies, which is entertaining. "

Talking about the significance of movies to personal life in the past ten years or even a longer period of time, Wang Jian’s words are simple. This can’t help but remind people of the line "After the invention of the film, the life span of human beings has been extended by at least three times."

Among the cinema films in recent years, he likes the new mainstream films full of positive energy, such as,, and so on. Because these films "can improve the upward spirit of young people and let them at least understand the current and previous state of the country."

Talking about the recent hit, Wang Jian expressed regret that he had not had time to watch it. Although the projectionist shows movies, he is often busy with his daily work, and the benefits of this work are rarely enjoyed. In addition to the projectionist, he also worked as a maintenance worker and refrigeration worker in the cinema. For excellent cinema films, he will also take time out to "make up lessons".

In December this year, Wang Jian, who has reached the age of listening, will also retire in the Geological Auditorium. He hopes that colleagues will mention themselves in the future and say, "Old comrade Wang Jian is better, at least he can blend in with young people." After retirement, he will often come back to see.

Ten years of change and invariance

Beijing Geology Auditorium was established on January 9, 1989, and its predecessor was the "Li Siguang Workshop" of the Ministry of Geology which was completed in 1959.After returning to Beijing from the army in 1984, Wang Jian was initially assigned to work as a maintenance worker in a state-owned chemical plant. On New Year’s Day in 1988, a projectionist was needed after the reconstruction of the Geological Auditorium. As a result, Wang Jian, a professional counterpart, came here following the arrangement of his superiors.

At that time, the geological auditorium was not open to the public, and the usual screening was also aimed at insiders. A year later, the cinema was officially opened to the public.

"This change has been particularly great in the past 10 years. At the earliest, we were all film machines. Every movie had at least three people working at the same time, one film cutting source and two projectionists, because it was a film switching machine. At that time, when we were in the army, two people were alternately placed. "

Recalling the changes in jobs in the past ten years, Wang Jianshen was deeply touched. When the film machine plays a movie, the handover signal must be aligned manually to keep the sound and picture consistent, which is a great test for the technical ability of the projectionist.

Nowadays, digital projectors are widely used in film interviews, which not only improves the screening quality, but also greatly improves the work efficiency. "After changing the original film projection to digital projection, one person can now stare at three halls."

At present, the Geological Auditorium has 4 projection halls with 1301 seats. Among them, Hall 3 is a laser hall, with higher screen brightness and better viewing experience.

In the past ten years, although the projection technology has been constantly updated and iterated, some fine traditions of the geological auditorium still persist."We won’t withdraw from the show again. Even if there is only one audience in a movie, we will show it as usual, and we won’t persuade people to leave or let them change the scene." According to Wang Jian’s memory, this rule was put forward by an old business manager named Chen Shuping in the Geological Auditorium.

From its establishment to the present, some old audiences have never left for more than 30 years.In Wang Jian’s memory, there was an audience older than himself. Even if he moved from Xisi to Daxing, he would still choose to come to the Geological Auditorium as long as he watched the movie. In the old cinema, sometimes not only movies are shown, but also beautiful memories of the younger generation.

Looking back on the past ten years, the rapid development of equipment digitalization and the whole industry in China film projection market benefited from the development of the times and policy support.

In 2004, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television issued the Outline for the Development of Film Digitization, which clearly stated that China films would complete the transition from film to digital machines within five to ten years. In 2014, the Ministry of Finance issued the Notice on Several Economic Policies to Support Film Development. In 2017, the implementation of "People’s Republic of China (PRC) Film Industry Promotion Law" made the China film market develop healthily and orderly.

Old cinema and new living method

There used to be an old saying in Beijing, "In front of the West Fourth Drum Tower in Dongdan", which refers to the three core business districts in the urban area.Twenty years ago, the geological auditorium, the Red Chamber Cinema and the Shengli Cinema near Xisi formed a "three-legged" trend. Today, only the geological auditorium is still open.

"After 2000, the auditorium is an old cinema, and there are relatively few people coming. The Xisi is no longer a business. Many large studios have better hardware facilities and are still in the new business district. " According to Wang Jian, after entering the new millennium, facing the rise of emerging cinemas, cinemas are facing the pressure of audience diversion. In order to improve business performance, Geological Auditorium actively expands revenue channels.

In 2010, the presence of Mahua FunAge Theater brought new vitality to the cinema.

"We are both a performance venue and a cinema." According to Zhang Yan, manager of the market development department of the Geological Auditorium, the cinema and Mahua FunAge have established a long-term cooperative relationship and used the cinema at different peaks. In addition, the Geological Auditorium can also undertake other performances, conferences, training and other activities to meet the needs of various activities.

In the past ten years, Beijing’s old cinemas have continuously expanded their revenue channels and made great efforts.Jinsong Cinema, founded in 1983, also cooperated with Mahua FunAge. According to the latest ticketing information, from October 29 to 30, the happy little twist family fun children’s drama "The Clown Loves Beauty" will be shown here.

Xidandian, the Capital Cinema, which is about 1.6 kilometers away from the Geological Auditorium, has become a "class representative" for the upgrading and transformation of the old cinema.The Capital Cinema, founded in 1937, was moved to Xidan Joy City in 2008, and all of them were "changed" except the name. Located in a well-known large-scale supermarket in China, and with brand-new projection equipment, the store ranks in the TOP5 of the annual box office list of national cinemas all the year round.

From 2020 to 2021, Xidan Store of Capital Cinema won the national box office list. As of October 20, 2022, the annual box office of the film has exceeded 21 million yuan, ranking second in the country, and only 300,000 box offices away from the first place.

In addition to the main business of film screening, the theater also carried out high-definition screening of stage images, cross talk specials and other businesses. Images of classic musical dramas such as The Nutcracker are constantly being shown in the store. Some cross talk performance teams have also appeared here, and there is even a work specially tailored for cinemas, "Notice of Watching Movies".

Running middle-aged and old cinemas have become witnesses and followers of the rapid development of China film market in the past decade. They are an indispensable part of China film market.

In the past ten years, many achievements in China’s film market can’t be achieved without the help of various macro policies, and also without ordinary people like Wang Jian, who stick to their jobs and pay silently for decades.

Nowadays, China’s films have braved the wind and waves in the world cultural trend, which is also the aspiration of all.