National film festival features traditional culture, global trends
( 2001-10-19 10:39 ) (7 )

China's top film gala, the 10th China Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival, started Thursday in this port city of east China's Zhejiang Province. Entertainers perform during the opening ceremony of the 10th China Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival on October 18. [newsphoto.com.cn]

China's top film gala, the 10th China Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival, started Thursday in this port city of east China's Zhejiang Province.

During the five-day festival, some 21 major film-related activities will be held including showings of the latest movies, a trade fair on film products, academic seminars, art performances, and international cultural exchanges.

At a forum titled "Chinese films between traditional culture and globalized trends", domestic and overseas cultural experts and film producers will host discussions on the challenges and development of the Chinese film industry in the new century.

The festival is jointly sponsored by the China Federation of Literary and Art Groups, the China Film Association (CFA) and the city government of Ningbo.

The award ceremony, the backbone of the film festival, is scheduled to be held on October 22. The winners of the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers awards will be announced on that evening.

Li Guoming, CFA vice chairman, said that to attract a young audience, more than 300,000 school students have been organized to see films. Meanwhile, more than one million people in the city's rural areas have been provided with film shows over the past several months.

Established in 1962, the Hundred Flowers Awards are voted by cinema-goers while the Golden Rooster Awards, initiated in 1981, are chosen by movie academic circles.

The country changed the award ceremonies of the two film awards into national film festivals in 1992.