Golden Rooster film festival opens in Xiamen

Director Lan Hongchun, known for Dear You, recalled watching his first film as a child in a rice paddy after the autumn harvest. Two flagpoles stood in the muddy field, with a white screen stretched between them, while an old projector whirred and creaked. Despite the makeshift setting, the experience helped spark a passion for filmmaking that led him to direct the hit Dear You three decades later.

Taiwan actor Tim Huang, the festival's cross-Strait film promotion ambassador, said technologies such as AI previsualization and virtual production have changed his understanding of filmmaking.

"Although many of our ideas are constrained by shooting conditions and spatial limitations, technologies such as AI previsualization and virtual production have shown me that technology is more than just a tool to assist filming — it broadens the boundaries of storytelling and gives us actors more ways to interpret our roles," he said.