Chinese animated films have attracted widespread attention in recent years, especially after "Ne Zha" roared into theaters last year. The film about a rebellious, buck-toothed, slouchy child deity from Chinese folklore, grabbed over 5 billion yuan (728 million U.S. dollars) at the box office.

However, Chinese animated films are lagging behind their Japanese and American counterparts and still have a long way to go, director Zhao Ji told CGTN. 

"Since the 1980s, Chinese animation has been hit by our Japanese and American counterparts and gradually lagged behind. In 2013, our team did a CG animation film. At that time, we estimated that our technology was about 20 years behind those countries," Zhao said during an interview with CGTN at the 10th Beijing International Film Festival, which wrapped up on Saturday.

"But luckily we've developed fast in recent years and the gap is narrowing," he added. 

Zhao studied animation in college and making animated films had long been his dream. But it was not until 2013 that he got the chance to enter the sector. In 2019, his "White Snake" hit cinemas and earned over 400 million yuan (58 million U.S. dollars).

It tells the romance story of a white snake and a doctor who saved her life long ago. Although a classic story in Chinese mythology, it had not been animated before Zhao.

"We tried to tell the ancient story from a modern perspective. We designed animated movements for the snake, which no other country had ever done before. Through this, we developed some animation technology based on our own culture," Zhao explained.

In the interview, Zhao also mentioned that the animated film sector faces fierce competition from the gaming industry as the latter pays higher salaries to animators. "The pandemic has brought the film industry to a halt and that has aggravated the situation," he said.

Reporters: Ye Qing, Liu Huihui, Deng Junfang

Videographer: Sun Siyi

Video editor: Chen Haomin

Cover image designer: Liu Shaozhen

Project manager: Deng Junfang

Supervisor: Zhang Shilei