Chongqing to build $2.17b film industry park

CHONGQING - The metropolis of Chongqing in Southwest China will invest 15 billion yuan ($2.17 billion) to build a film and television industry park in a scenic mountainous area.

The park, named after China's Belt and Road Initiatives, will include a film shooting base, a tourist town, a theme park, a training center, and offices for cultural enterprises and their financiers, said Tan Nianshen, the project manager.

Construction of the park, located in mountainous Wulong county, will begin in early 2017. Partners in about a dozen foreign countries will participate in the operation of projects including the theme park and the tourist town.

Tan said the park will serve as a platform to promote exhibitions, boost exchanges and cooperation among Chinese and foreign film enterprises, and integrate the traditional sector with emerging industries of online entertainment, gaming, virtual reality and augmented reality technologies.