National Film Production Centre

The National Film Production Centre (NFPC; Chinese: 國家電影製作中心; pinyin: Guójiā Diànyǐng Zhìzuò Zhōngxīn) is a famous Tsengian film production and distributing company. The oldest filmmaking company in Tseng, the NFPC is one of the "Big Three" film companies, along with Jincheng Pictures and Taoshan Pictures. The NFPC was government-owned from 1946 to 1995, of which then the NFPC came under private ownership.

Imperial Films (1935-1946)
Imperial Films was the predecessor of the NFPC. Founded on April 1, 1935 by avid filmmakers and movie fans Paul Ainsley, John Wen, Aart Chen, and John David Ryker, it was the first filmmaking company in colonial Tseng.

Government-owned years (1946-1995)
On December 8, 1946, Aart Chen, the only surviving original founder of the company (the rest had moved or died), sold NFPC to the government of Tseng. Until the Luanzheng Era there wasn't any restrictions on what types of films the NFPC could make (with the execption of "yellow" (pornographic) films). During the 1960s the Tsengian film industry suffered a severe blow and many independent film companies were founded. However, during the 1970s, many of those companies were merged into the "Big Three". As a result of those mergings, the NFPC was gifted with directors like Jonathan Yan, Marcel He, and Jacques Wang, and actors/actresses like Thomas Yeh, Margeaux Min-zheng, and Peter Ou-yang. However, state ownership limited what the NFPC could make. For example, in all NFPC films, the women had to be shown in a "non-sexual" way (this was ended in 1988 with the film Alley Fighters).

End of government ownership and the Five Dragons of NFPC era (1995-2005)
With the Reforms of 90, many government-owned companies like TBS or Guorong Financial were privatized or were sold by the government to other corperations and dashangs. NFPC was not immune. On January 26, 1995, NFPC was sold to the Michael Li family.

In the 1980s and 1990s, five actors were the "main attractions" of NFPC. They were Sébastien Tang, Paul Zhang, Henryk Lee, Liu Daquan, and Jonathan Zhao-yang, better known as the Five Dragons of NFPC. They brought in the most money and revenue for NFPC, and many great films stared the five.

Present years (2005-present)
In 2006, Zengzhong Animation, specializing in animated films, was established as a subsidiary of NFPC.

Films
"Main article: List of NFPC films"