Chinese film festival opens in capital

New Delhi, Mar 28 (UNI) A week-long festival of Chinese films opened here this evening with the screening of 'Gun of Mercy' directed by Xiao Feng.

The event was jointly inaugurated by Chinese ambassador to India Zhang Yan, Secretary, Information and Broadcasting Asha Swarup and Mr Tong Gang, Director General, China State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) .

A high-level delegation of the Chinese film industry and movie buffs attended the inaugural ceremony.

After receiving Indian films with great interest in their coutry recently, the Chinese are now showcasing the latest in their cinema in this festival, being held at Sirifort auditorium.

The eight films that would be screened are 'Fearless', directed by Ronny Yu, 'The Banquet' by Feng Xiaogang, 'Courthouse on the Horseback' by Liu Jie, 'The Silent Holy Stones' by Wanma Caidan, 'Call for Love' by Zhaang Jianya, 'A World Witout Thieves' by Feng Xiaogang, 'Honemoon' by Chen Jun, and 'Perhaps love' by Peter Ho-Sun Chan.

These are all newly made films varied in topic and artistic style, and they will serve as a window to the Chinese life,'' Mr Zhang had told reporters addressing a press conference jointly with head of the Directorate of Film Festival Neelam Kapur here yesterday.

The Chinese film festival is a joint event of the two organisations. Ms Kapur said the festival was part of the cultural exchange programmes and was being held under the special agreement between the two countries.

China made its first motion picture 'Conquering the Jun Mountain (Ding Jun Shan)' made in 1905. Since then they have come a longway transforming the cinema into a complete industry engaged in film production, theatrical distribution and exhibition and development of post-theatrical market such as DVD, internet, VOD, cable, merchandising etc.

The country has more than 100 films studios and production companies of different sizes. The year 2007 saw a total production of 402 feature films and a considerable amount of science and educational films, documentary films and animation films, setting up a record.

The Chinese cinema is making its presenec felt on the international scene, particularly after worldwide release of Chinese hits like The Knot, The Assembly and Kekexil among others, which were well received by the world audience. In 2007, 29 Chinese films received 49 accolades on 19 international occasions.

UNI NAZ VD KN1958