Canada will host the first Chinese film festival in Montreal in September, a move many see as the two countries' latest bid to further cooperation between film makers of the two sides in tapping the burgeoning market of China, the event's organizing committee said Friday.
The first Canada China International Film Festival (CCIFF), scheduled for Sept. 16-19, aims to "provide a platform for film makers from the two countries to coordinate and innovate together," said Song Miao, executive director of the festival's organizing committee, at a press conference.
The film industry is lucrative in China. With 44 billion yuan (almost 6.8 billion U.S. dollars) worth of the box office revenue in 2015, China has been coveted by international film makers and businessmen who dream of taking a share of the tempting market.
Song said that Chinese film makers are getting proficient in using innovative technologies to groom their movies, and are becoming more skilled in striking a balance between the story telling and technology using.
"So, what will happen if you put Chinese films together with leading entertainment technology from Canada? (The festival) is seeking to provide an answer to that question," she said.
The festival will showcase innovative technologies such as augmented reality interactive experience and illimitable space system, a multimodal interaction computer graphics system to facilitate the artistic performance.
Another attracting point of the CCIFF event will be its highlight of female themes in films, which the festival will invite international professionals to discuss at a conference called Women's Voice in Film and Television. The conference will also include keynote speeches and Q & A sessions to foster a rethinking of female film makers' role in the global international film industry.
"I want to make different films that shed a different light on female themes than current female films which sometimes focus on negative stereotypes, and bring more positivity into the narration," said Song.
