Belt and Road gets its moment in Shanghai spotlight

The launch ceremony of the Belt and Road Film Week at the 27th Shanghai International Film Festival, or SIFF, was held at the exhibition center of Shanghai Shendi Group in Pudong New Area on Wednesday.

At the ceremony, actors Huang Xiaoming and Yu Shi, and actress Tang Yan were awarded certificates as ambassadors for the film week. Also, 20 alliance members and overseas guests were presented with honorary guest certificates. Agreements were signed around 20 key film, television, and cultural creativity enterprises and projects, allowing them to settle in the Shanghai International Resort, while the Southeast Asia Festival market was announced open. 

With the theme of "Travel with Films," this year's screening unit has selected 15 diverse films from countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, many of which were shortlisted for the main competition sections of international festivals like Rotterdam, Locarno, and Tokyo.

The film week plans to hold eight post-screening meet-and-greets with filmmakers, and five selected films will be simultaneously screened in five cities — Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, and Hefei — enabling audiences in the Yangtze River Delta region to experience the charm of the SIFF locally.

During the event, over 40 international filmmakers from more than 20 participating countries will gather in Pudong to discuss topics such as film industry cooperation, overseas promotion, and young talent cultivation through alliance work meetings and roundtables.

Since its launch in 2018, the Belt and Road Film Week has grown into a vital platform for Sino-foreign film and cultural exchanges. As of 2024, it has successfully screened 129 films from the BRI countries.

Leveraging its alliance mechanism, 54 Chinese films have been showcased in member countries, with 10 entering the main competition sections of international film festivals and 3 winning major awards. The Belt and Road Film Festival Alliance has expanded from 31 institutions in 29 countries to 55 institutions in 48 countries.