2020-03-17

The Belt and Road Film Tour | WUSHU ORPHAN Awarded at Minsk Film Festival

At the closing ceremony of the 26th Minsk International Film Festival in Belarus on November 8, HUANG Huang, director of the Chinese movie WUSHU ORPHAN was awarded the prize “For Humanism and Spirituality in the Cinema”. This special award aims to acclaim the filmmakers who demonstrate humanism and spirituality in their films.

Poster of WUSHU ORPHAN

Thanks to The Belt and Road Film Tour introduced by "The Belt and Road" Film Festival Alliance, this year the Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) recommended two new Chinese films, WUSHU ORPHAN and YOUNG SANGYE to the Minsk International Film Festival. Upon selection, WUSHU ORPHAN was shortlisted for the Feature Films Competition “Youth on the March”, which focuses on 1st - 2nd full-length film in the director’s filmography; and YOUNG SANGYE was admitted to the Children and Youth Film Competition, as the only Asian film among the seven finalists. The directors and producers of the two films were invited to Minsk to attend three screening and post-screening meetings. According to the crew, the meetings were all crowded with audiences, and both works received warm response from international guests and local viewers.

WUSHU ORPHAN Director HUANG Huang at Minsk Film Festival

Screened in SIFF’s panorama unit Refreshing Chinese Cinema in 2019, WUSHU ORPHAN is based on director HUANG Huang\'s graduate work, the short film NO COUNTRY FOR CHICKEN produced ten years ago. Starring JIN Jingcheng and LIU Zhihan etc., and with the renowned Chinese director LI Shaohong as production manager, the movie was released across China on November 8 this year. YOUNG SANGYE is the first feature film written and directed by ZHANG Guodong. This typical road movie truly presents the arduous journey of Tibetan locals who seek and dig worm grasses for a living.

YOUNG SANGYE Crew at Minsk Film Festival

Since its launch in September this year, The Belt and Road Film Tour has travelled to the 36th Jerusalem Film Festival, the 16th Miskolc International Film Festival, the 60th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, and other film events organized by members of "The Belt and Road" Film Festival Alliance. On the occasion, an array of high-quality films recommended by SIFF, including A FIRST FAREWELL, THE ROAD HOME, THE RETURN, and TO LIVE TO SING, were specially screened. Thanks to The Belt and Road Film Tour, the exchanges and mutual learning of cinema cultures across the world are expanding both in depth and breadth.

Members of "The Belt and Road" Film Festival Alliance

In 2018 at the 21st Shanghai International Film Festival, “The Belt and Road” Film Festival Alliance was established, and “The Belt and Road" Film Week launched. As of this September the Alliance has grown to 38 member institutions of 33 countries from 32 member institutions in 29 countries at the time of founding. On this basis, SIFF developed "The Belt and Road" Film Tour mechanism, which leverages the platform advantage of “The Belt and Road” Film Festival Alliance to support the film screening, exhibition and display among alliance members. The Film Tour has not only expanded the exchange and cooperation on Belt and Road from a SIFF event to a year-round program, but also promoted Chinese films to “go global”, spreading Chinese culture and telling Chinese stories. For member countries, it is helping transform the exchange and mutual learning of film culture under the Belt and Road Initiative into tangible forces to drive the development of the film industry and enrich the cultural life of the audience in each country. Therefore, the Film Tour has been warmly welcomed and generated wide-ranging influences, attracting the participation of more and more film festivals.