Chinese young filmmakers were in the spotlight at the Venice Film Festival within the second edition of the "Focus on China" forum, a side event running from Thursday to Sunday at the Lido island.
Aimed at further promoting the Chinese film industry at global level, and boosting co-productions, the initiative this year offered a specific "Young Filmmakers Training Program".
The whole forum was co-organized by Xinhuanet and Italian National Association of Film, Audiovisual, and Multimedia Industries (ANICA), and the program targeting towards Chinese young talents received some 200 films and about 300 scripts, according to general manager of Xinhuanet Europe Pan Zhi.
"The idea of getting young talents involved came from Xinhuanet, and I think it was indeed successful," director of ANICA International Dept. Roberto Stabile said at a themed symposium organized on Saturday.
Young filmmakers would better understand the crucial importance of co-productions in the film industry compared to prominent authors, according to the official.
"Younger generations appreciate more the value of the internationalization of their own ideas and projects, and of the creative exchange that co-productions offer," Stabile also told Xinhua on the sideline of the meeting.
Jiang Hong, deputy director of China Film Corporation Agency of China Film Co. Ltd, urged young directors and scriptwriters to "focus on their passion" before pursuing commercial success.
"What I mean is that they should not be in a hurry in order to succeed, but rather think at their first film as an artistic work, in which to put all of their energies, emotions and soul," Jiang told the audience.
Cultural exchanges between China and Italy in the field would play a role in the growth of the newest generation of Chinese filmmakers, and an increasing number of students from China were enrolling in Italian academies, according to estimates by Milan-based Italy-China Foundation.
"Our association deals with Chinese students in Italy, and we have seen a 300 percent increase in the last five years, especially in the number of those enrolling in our schools of arts and drama academies," Andrea Canapa, the Foundation's Rome-bureau chief, explained.
Young people in China were increasingly fascinated by cinema in terms of entertainment, but also as a way to express their artistic perspectives, experts in the sector confirmed.
"The younger generations (in China) have the impulse to express themselves, and our time is the time of image," Zeng Xiangmin, professor at the Faculty of Communication and Journalism of the Communication University of China, told Xinhua.
As such, films become a favorite way for them to have a dialogue with the society. "Chinese young directors most of all want to narrate the changes happening in the last years, since these changes are occurring all around them, in their society as well as in their families," Zeng said.
