Actor Wang Baoqiang (L)and his wife Ma Rong pose on the red carpet as they arrive for the screening of the film A Touch of Sin during the 66th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes on May 17,2013. Regis Duvignau / Reuters

A win for sin?

Chinese art-house film wins at the box office

"Investments are still flowing into the industry. More than 600 films were made last year, not including those indie films that were not calculated in official statistics," Jia says.

"However, lacking a marketing mind, Chinese indie filmmakers don't get much benefit from the film market's growth."

He calls for more exchanges between commercial and indie filmmakers in China because "actually they need each other's help".

"Some Chinese films get lost in content when they go all the way to meet the audience's interests. They need to learn from indie filmmakers how to speak out in a personal voice," Jia says.

Another concern about the Chinese film industry is the shortage of producers who are creative and capable of delivering the director's personal voice to the general audience. This lack shows "the immaturity of the industry in China", Jia adds.

"A director shouldn't think about how to sell the story to the market when he or she writes it. That's the producer's job. But when I cooperate with young Chinese directors, they are concerned about marketing－even more than me－which is really sad," he says.

Improving marketing is critical for Chinese films that want to reach overseas markets.