The Nashville Film Festival has attracted buyers for the first time this year. Industry representatives will be mixing in with the crowd, watching movies and potentially making deals.

I asked Ted Crockett, executive director of the film festival, to read me the list of buyers. I recognized most of the names, like Amazon and Starz, until we got near the bottom. 

Crockett read, “We have the Executive President of the China Film Producers Association, Ming Zhenjiang.” He did his best with the pronunciation. 

Zhenjiang is one of eight delegates from China who will be attending the festival this year, looking for potential investments. Crockett says this is a huge opportunity. 

“China sells more tickets than the U.S. does, total. They have more movie theaters than the U.S. has. But right now they have a restriction on how many films can be shown in China that are from the U.S.,” Crockett explains. 

But there’s a loophole. You see, at a film festival like this one, many of the films need a lot of funding to finish production and get distributed.

When a film needs that level of assistance, these Chinese delegates can act more as co-producers than buyers. And when a film is a co-production, there aren’t as many limitations.

Which means more movies for China.

This is something new for these Chinese filmmakers, and Crockett says it’s helping to put his growing festival on the map.