Inside a sprawling, architecturally striking white building, a comedy unfolded. Though it lasted only 10 minutes, the play, Sky Trap, which was based on an airline conducting a rehearsal for an anti-hijacking drill, with chaos ensuing when the crew unexpectedly encounters a real armed criminal attempting to hijack the flight, was both hilarious and gripping. It was just one of a series of productions being presented that day.

Offstage, four special audience members sat in the front row, focused intently on the play. They weren't just there to be entertained — they also had the responsibility of deciding whether it would receive financial support to be developed into a full-length show.

Scenes from Sky Trap (pictured) and Parenting 404: Son Not Found, two of the six short-listed plays selected from a pool of over 300 entries to the festival's pitch competition. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The four were Shen Teng and Ma Li, who are both actors, director Feng Xiaogang, and actor-filmmaker Xu Zheng — the top celebrities in Chinese comedy cinema — and their job was to vote for the most appealing shows, which were awarded bonuses ranging from 200,000 yuan ($27,295) to 500,000 yuan.

The competition — a pitch session in which six productions had 10 minutes to prove their worth — was one of the most anticipated segments of the second Macao International Comedy Festival, held in Hengqin in Guangdong province and the Macao Special Administrative Region from April 9 to 13.

They were short-listed from over 300 submissions, which encompassed a variety of styles, including urban comedies, absurdist plays, and dark humor, according to the organizers.

Scenes from Sky Trap (pictured) and Parenting 404: Son Not Found, two of the six short-listed plays selected from a pool of over 300 entries to the festival's pitch competition. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Sky Trap took the Best Creative Award, while the Best Storytelling Award — the competition's biggest honor — went to Parenting 404: Son Not Found, a fantasy comedy about a father waiting outside the delivery room, who encounters an angel with the power to grant him an ideal child.

As an annual event designed to attract top comedy performers, creators and filmmakers from China and abroad, the festival drew a string of celebrities, including Indian star Aamir Khan, Japanese actor-director Takeshi Kitano, director Jeffrey Lau, and comedian Bai Ke.

Initiators of the festival, Shen Teng (second left) and Ma Li (second right), share insights about making successful comedies with Bollywood star Aamir Khan (left) during the closing forum, hosted by scriptwriter Peter Chiarelli, who is known for the Hollywood blockbuster Crazy Rich Asians. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Keys to female success

The five-day festival, which consisted of multiple events such as new movie screenings and forums, opened a window on the keys to making successful comedies, as well as the challenges upcoming artists face.

Ma, who launched the festival along with Shen, shared her early experience of having to overcome difficulties to pursue her artistic dreams.

After graduating from the Central Academy of Drama and finishing an advanced program at Peking University, Ma joined the popular comedy troupe Mahua FunAge in 2005, and has performed in over 100 plays since. She gained wider recognition after debuting alongside Shen during the 2013 China Central Television Spring Festival Gala — one of the country's longest-running television programs, which is watched by millions on Chinese New Year Eve.

At the start of her career, Ma would wake up early to catch buses to auditions for movies and TV series, seeking out even the smallest acting opportunities. The auditions were not always pleasant.

Actress Ma Li [Photo provided to China Daily]

"One director once told me, 'you should either be uglier or more beautiful. You're stuck in the middle — an actress like you has no future. And your personality is too introverted.' He even suggested I change careers," Ma said during a forum on career challenges faced by female comedians.

Her self-confidence shaken, she decided that from that point on, she would stop auditioning for film and TV roles, and focus instead on steady work in the theater.

"Often, fate works this way — when you stop craving and demanding, opportunities come to you," she says.

Through powerful stage performances, she attracted film industry attention, earning her the lead role in Goodbye Mr. Loser, the biggest dark horse hit of 2015. It catapulted Ma to stardom, lifting her to A-list status and leading her to star in more comedy blockbusters like Never Say Die (2017) and Moon Man (2022).

Actor-director Xu Zheng [Photo provided to China Daily]

Understanding the unfair treatment faced by female comedians who are not yet established, Ma says that she feels a strong sense of care for female characters in a script.

"When you're just starting out, it is often hard to get your opinion about female characters accepted. At the time, all I could do was grit my teeth, because there was the pressure of making a living to support my family. But now, I can choose stories that truly move and inspire me," she says.

She has taken on another highly anticipated role in the upcoming film The Dumpling Queen, which is inspired by the famous story of Zang Jianhe, a single mother who went from street vendor to business mogul as founder of one of Hong Kong's biggest food companies.

Lau, who is from Hong Kong and whose most famous previous films include All for the Winner, says that despite the relatively low budget, he was drawn to the project and volunteered to direct because the female protagonist reminded him of his mother, who encouraged his childhood passion for art.

Indian star Aamir Khan [Photo provided to China Daily]

Striking a balance

From theater to cinema, the festival was filled with joy. The question of how to make the audience laugh — and how to strike the right balance of humor in a cross-cultural context — was among the key topics of discussion.

Khan, whose wrestling-themed film Dangal was a hit in the Chinese mainland in 2017, emphasizes that timing is crucial to good comedy. He received the Mr. Humor Award, one of the festival's most prestigious honors.

"Comedy does require something special. Half a second earlier or late, and the punch line is not as effective," he says, adding that whether in situational comedy or slapstick, timing is essential — both in delivering dialogue and executing physical humor.

Khan says he's always believed that to go global, creators must first be local because the more rooted a film is in its culture, the more universally it can resonate.

When asked about improvisation, which sometimes adds unexpected comedy, Khan said he doesn't like to improvise without asking the writers in advance.

"Whenever I've improvised — even if an idea comes to me when neither the director nor the writer is present — I always reach out to tell them what I'm thinking. I want to know how they feel. I believe in the importance of writing because that's where everything about cinema starts," he says.

Actor Shen Teng [Photo provided to China Daily]

For Shen, one of China's most popular comedic actors, comedy is like an entertaining shell wrapped around serious social issues in a lighthearted and audience-friendly package.

Taking his film Successor as an example, he explains that comedy can avoid being preachy while encouraging viewers to focus on social issues and contemplate deep questions.

An in-depth exploration of "helicopter parenting" — a typical phenomenon in many parts of the world — Successor is the story of a wealthy businessman and his wife who pretend to be poor to encourage their youngest son to study hard and secure a promising future. The film earned over 3.3 billion yuan at the box office, becoming one of the highest-grossing blockbusters last year.

Japanese actor-director Takeshi Kitano [Photo provided to China Daily]

Takeshi Kitano, whose best-known comedy is the 1999 road film Kikujiro, says that his early artistic experience in small theaters prepared him well for film, and that the idea of making a film of his own also first came from the stage.

Revealing his fondness for Asian comedies — exemplified by his voice role for the Japanese dub of Hong Kong's The Private Eyes, which was released as Mr. Boo! in Japan — Kitano says that he is passionate about Chinese comedies.

He also says that he plans to collaborate with Bai Ke on his upcoming film, with the script scheduled for completion by autumn, and shooting set to begin by the end of this year.

For most festival participants, the event was a bridge for cultural exchange and creative inspiration.

Peter Chiarelli, the American screenwriter behind Crazy Rich Asians — one of Hollywood's most successful Asian-led comedies — says his visit to China will allow him to learn from others, take inspiration back home, and create even better work.

"Language barriers can be tricky with comedy — if you're structuring a joke and the phrasing doesn't translate, that's a challenge. But you do find crossover in certain universal themes," he adds.

Director Feng Xiaogang [Photo provided to China Daily]