The Asia Film Company was the first film production company in China.

History

The Asia Film Company was established in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

in 1909 by American businessman

Benjamin Brosky Benjamin ( he, ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's thir ...

, and was the first company to produce dramatic films in China. They were all short films, which were the fashion at the time. The studio made four films in 1909 in Shanghai and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, the only surviving one being ''Stealing a Roast Duck'', shot in Hong Kong. Brosky left Shanghai in 1912 and sold his assets to two other Americans, Yashell and Suffert. They continued the work of the company, collaborating with the Xinmin theatre company, led by

Zheng Zhengqiu Zheng Zhengqiu (; January 25, 1889 – July 16, 1935) was a Chinese filmmaker often considered a "founding father" of Chinese cinema.Zhang, Yingjin & Xiao, Zhiwei (1998). "Zheng Zhengqiu" in ''Encyclopedia of Chinese Film''. Taylor & Francis, pp ...

and

Zhang Shichuan Zhang Shichuan (; 1889–1953 or 1890–1954), also credited as S. C. Chang, was a Chinese entrepreneur, film director, and film producer, who is considered a founding father of Chinese cinema. He and Zheng Zhengqiu made the first Chinese feature ...

. The company was dissolved in 1914, when the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

caused a shortage of

film stock Film stock is an analog medium that is used for recording motion pictures or animation. It is recorded on by a movie camera, developed, edited, and projected onto a screen using a movie projector. It is a strip or sheet of transparent p ...

. Brosky went on to co-found, with

Li Minwei Lai Man-wai (; September 25, 1893 – October 26, 1953), also romanised as Lay Min-wei or M.W. Ray, considered the "Father of Hong Kong Cinema", was the director of the first Hong Kong film ''Zhuangzi Tests His Wife'' in 1913. In the film, Lai p ...

, Hong Kong's first film studio, Huamei (Chinese-American), in 1913, which made a single film, ''

Zhuangzi Tests His Wife ''Zhuangzi Tests His Wife'' () is a 1913 Hong Kong drama film directed by Li Minwei. It is the earliest feature film of Hong Kong cinema, and the only film made by the Huamei (Chinese-American) Studio, which was co-founded by Benjamin Brosky, w ...

''.

Films

The company's productions mainly consisted of actualities and comedy

shorts Shorts are a garment worn over the human pelvis, pelvic area, circling the waist and splitting to cover the upper part of the legs, sometimes extending down to the knees but not covering the entire length of the leg. They are called "shorts" b ...

. It produced ''

The Difficult Couple ''The Difficult Couple'' (), also translated as ''Die for Marriage'', is a 1913 Chinese film. It is known for being the earliest Chinese feature film. Although it had a dialogue of only a little more than 1,000 characters, it was the first Chines ...

'' in 1913, the first feature-length film made in China, which was about

arranged marriage Arranged marriage is a type of marital union where the bride and groom are primarily selected by individuals other than the couple themselves, particularly by family members such as the parents. In some cultures a professional matchmaker may be us ...

, directed by

and written by

References

Film production companies of China Mass media in Shanghai Mass media companies established in 1909 Mass media companies disestablished in 1913 Chinese companies established in 1909 1913 disestablishments in China {{film-company-stub