August First Film Studio, or Bayi Film Studio (Chinese: 八一电影制片厂; pinyin: Bāyī diànyǐng zhì piàn chǎng), is the only military film 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 in Fengtai District, Beijing, and consists of Wang Zuo Film and Television Base and Hubei Film and Television Base.[1]
History
In March 1951, with the approval of the Culture and Education Commission and the Central 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 in honour of the PLA's silver 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 the China Film Group Corporation. From then on, PLA Film and CFGC carried a duopoly in the Chinese film industry until the 1990s.