2021-06-15

"Opening the Heart" to the Yangtze River Delta-The Belt and Road Film Week Held Kickoff Ceremony Yesterday

To celebrate the centenary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, create a festive atmosphere, and further implement the requirements of implementing national cultural strategies and promoting regional industrial development through film and television cultural exchanges, from June 12 to June 20, the 24th Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) the Belt and Road Film Week events were held in Shanghai International Resort in Pudong New Area. The kickoff ceremony was held at Shendi Cultural Center on June 13, and a group of key film and television cultural enterprises signed contracts to settle in the resort. The lineups of the Belt and Road Film Week Yangtze River Delta Screen and promotion ambassadors were announced, and 2021 the Belt and Road Film Week was officially launched. Based on the previous three events, this Film Week will further integrate with the advancement of the film and television industry, the integration of the Yangtze River Delta and the integrated development of business, travel, and culture, continue to build a branded film and television cultural exchange platform, gather international film and television resources, and promote the leading role of technological innovation for film and television industry.

Build a brand for film and television exchanges and deepen the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative

This year, the theme of the Belt and Road Film Week is "Opening the Heart", which means that through the latest film achievements of the countries along the Belt and Road Initiative route, the colorful cultures and diverse civilizations of various countries will be unveiled; 20 outstanding new films will meet with the audience and display “the customs of the countries along the Belt and Road Initiative route, for the audience to experience the world in the exchange and mutual learning of film culture, and allowing every audience to experience the collision of culture, the aftertaste of art and the resonance of the soul. Martial artist and actor Donnie Yen, director Jia Ling and actress Zhang Xiaofei were invited to serve as promotion ambassadors for this year's the Belt and Road Film Week.

Since SIFF initiated the Belt and Road Film Festival Alliance and the Belt and Road Film Week in 2018, with the support from the People’s Government and Publicity Department of the District Committee (Cultural, Sports and Tourism Bureau) of the Communist Party of China of Pudong New Area and the Shanghai International Resort Administration Committee, after four years of development, the Belt and Road Film Festival Alliance has gradually grown. The Belt and Road Film Week has attracted more and more filmmakers from countries and regions to participate. The Belt and Road Film Tour mechanism has promoted more Chinese films "go global" and has achieved positive results. A large number of outstanding Chinese films continue to appear in film festivals around the world through this mechanism. As of May 2021, the Belt and Road Film Festival Alliance has gathered 53 film institutions in 46 countries. Relying on the unique platform of the Belt and Road Film Festival Alliance, this year, SIFF has received a total of 1,136 applications from countries along the route.

Shanghai International Resort continues to dynamically adjust the special funding policy for the film and television industry, provides precise and efficient support for film and television related projects under the Belt and Road Initiative and about the relevant country, gives full play to the role of cultural and industrial projects in the film week, guided the Belt and Road Initiative national film projects to use the film and television shared space and technology foundation of the resort to cooperate in online production and database use, promotes and distributes a batch of high-quality domestic film and television projects in the resort, and helps them to go global through SIFF; gives full play to the role of Film Week in cultural and industrial project cooperation and exchange, drives the implementation of relevant industrial policies in the city and districts through various forms such as project signing, exhibitions, forums, and venture capital markets, and launches high-level projects produced by Pudong that can serve the national cultural exchange and cooperation strategy.

The Belt and Road Film Week platform continued to build its brand, shaping the leading role of Pudong in “cultural export”, creating a strategic link of film and television cooperation with countries along the route, becoming an important carrier for promoting cultural exchanges and non-governmental exchange, and enlarging the film culture’s contribution to the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Amplify out-reaching effects and expand industry depth

The Belt and Road Film Week of this year’s SIFF will go out of Shanghai for the first time and head towards the Yangtze River Delta. Six selected films of the Belt and Road Film Week will be screened in Hangzhou, Nanjing, Hefei, Suzhou, and Ningbo from June 13 to June 19 in the Yangtze River Delta, which will promote the integrated high-quality development in the Yangtze River Delta in a way of sharing results and benefiting the people. At the kickoff ceremony on June 13, Ge Xuebin, Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee of the Communist Party of China, Tang Jinsong, Director of the Publicity Department of the Pudong New Area Committee of the Communist Party of China, and well-known filmmaker Donnie Yen jointly launched Yangtze River Delta Screening. This is also the first time that SIFF has held a film screening outside of Shanghai during the festival.

17 companies signed contracts to settle in the Resort at the ceremony. In accordance with the ideas of internationalization, high end, and branding, the Resort continues to promote industrial cluster, and has introduced more than 80 film and television companies, including leading domestic companies such as Rubei Feishi and Mojing Tianhe, and Tiangong Yicai, etc. that have participated in the post-production of top-ranked films by box office at home. These companies are involved in all aspects of the entire process of film and television, including shooting, post-production, and distribution. The categories are becoming more and more complete, and their economic contributions are gradually taking effect, laying the foundation for the cluster of the industrial functions of the Resort.