At 6:30 pm local time on August 19, the South African “China Film Festival” opened in Johannesburg. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and South Africa, and the 15th BRICS leaders’ meeting will be held soon.
Minister Hu Heping (sixth from left) announces the opening of the film festival
Hu Heping, Deputy Minister of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee in charge of daily work and Minister of Culture and Tourism of China, attended and announced the opening of the film festival. Dada Morero, Chairman of the Johannesburg City Committee and Finance Director of the ruling party of South Africa, the African National Congress, and Mao Yu, Executive Deputy Director of the China National Film Administration, delivered speeches respectively. South Africa is rich in film resources and is the African country with the most cinemas. Chairman Dada Morero said, “South African audiences are no strangers to Chinese films. Our generation grew up watching Chinese Kung Fu films. We hope that more excellent film works will enter the vision of the people of the two countries, deepen cultural exchanges and cooperation, and promote the continuous development of the special friendly relations between China and South Africa.”
Deputy Director Mao Yu delivered a speech
Deputy Director Mao Yu said in his speech that the films of China and South Africa have a good foundation for cooperation. The two countries have completed three co-productions such as “Where Has Time Gone” under the framework of the BRICS. Last year, the BRICS Film Festival was successfully held in Shanghai. Six film festival organizations, including the Durban International Film Festival in South Africa, signed the “Letter of Intent for Cooperation in the BRICS Film Festival”, reaching a consensus on the exchange and cooperation of BRICS film festivals, making new contributions to promoting the construction of a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future.
Bona Film Group Chairman Yu Dong and other guests interacted with the audience
That night, the guests and more than 500 audiences watched the opening film “The Captain” together. After the screening, the film producer and Bona Film Group Chairman Yu Dong and the two leading actors Zhang Hanyu and Huang Zhizhong interacted with the audience.
Group photo at the film festival
The four-day China Film Festival will screen 11 outstanding Chinese films, including the action film “Dragon Horse Spirit” starring Jackie Chan, which is deeply loved by the African people, the animated film “Lion Boy” that showcases the traditional Chinese folk lion dance art, the Cantonese opera film “The Legend of White Snake: Love” that highlights the Chinese aesthetic spirit, and the documentary film “Beijing 2022” that records the successful holding of the Beijing Winter Olympics. This film festival is an important measure to implement the “China-Africa Cultural Exchange Project”. It is hosted by the State Film Administration, undertaken by the China Film Archive and the Guangdong Provincial Film Administration, and co-organized by Cape of Good Hope Media. This is also the sixth stop of the “China Film Festival” held by the China Film Archive in many countries and regions in 2023. It will show the world a real, three-dimensional and comprehensive China through colorful stories.