Film festival in Chengdu shares perspectives, promotes harmony

Serving as a platform for cultural communication and cooperation in the film industry, the second BRICS Film Festival was held recently in Chengdu, Sichuan province, giving the public insight into diverse film cultures as well as the daily life and social development of BRICS countries, experts said.

China, as the rotating chair of the international bloc, will host the ninth BRICS annual summit in September in the coastal city of Xiamen, Fujian province. The festival is one of the key events for the summit.

With the theme of "openness, inclusiveness and win-win situations", this year's festival ran from June 23 to 27 and held activities including film exhibitions, the Golden Bear Awards, forums for film cooperation and the establishment of a national film day.

More than 30 movies from China, Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa have been screened at the festival.

Those include 10 contest films such as Soul Mate, the award-winning movie shown at the 53rd Golden Horse Film Festival in April in Taiwan, and The Second Mother, a film from Brazil nominated at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah in the United States, in 2015. Also, Where Has the Time Gone, a co-production of several BRICS countries, and the South African film Mrs Right Guy, were screened during the opening and closing ceremonies of the festival, respectively.

This year's event established a national film day for every BRICS country to show their exceptional movies and unique film cultures.

Zhang Hongsen, deputy director of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, said that setting a special day for movies is an innovative way to let audiences abroad gain a better understanding of BRICS countries.

He said that, as a host country for the festival, China has successfully presented the achievements of the country's reform and innovation of the film industry by selecting highly-rated films of different periods.

Another highlight of the festival was the opening film, Where Has the Time Gone, the first of its kind co-directed by several individuals from China and other BRICS countries.

It is a 110-minute movie with five short parts shot by five directors including Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke, Walter Salles from Brazil, Aleksey Fedorchenko from Russia, Madhur Bhandarkar from India and Jahmil X.T. Quebka from South Africa.

"We hope to further explore the meaning of time and focus on the changes of life and individuals' emotions under that social background.

"It also shows different types of enlightenment and choices of people from different cultures under the same human destiny," Jia said.

Indian filmmaker Mohan Agashe said that BRICS countries are like a big family even though they speak different languages. "Film is a good way for us to share the harmony and unity of different cultures and solve the same problems," he said. The Beijing Film Academy said during the festival that it is willing to strengthen communication with film students and young talents from Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa to enhance people-to-people exchanges and cooperation among BRICS countries.

As the only film academy of its kind in China, the largest in Asia and renowned throughout the world, the academy aims to further promote common prosperity and sustainable development of the film industry in these countries.

It will carry out exchanges and training programs in the next five years starting in 2018.

This year's festival is a large-scale cultural communication event in the film industry and the first of its kind in Chengdu.

More than 300 representatives from BRICS countries, including renowned domestic experts and media attended the show. To date, Chengdu is home to 16 foreign embassies and 278 Fortune Global 500 enterprises. The city is also the host of many international forums such as the Fortune Global Forum, World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention and the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting.

zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn