The Silk Road International Film Festival as a cross-cultural bridge

As Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province in northwest China, got ready to bid farewell to 2022 on December 31 last year, a festive mood engulfed the city thanks to China's optimization of its COVID-19 control policies earlier that month. A popular tourist destination in the city showcasing the ancient ways of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) attracted more than 60,000 people that evening.

As the cherry on top, the Ninth Silk Road International Film Festival (SRIFF) had kicked off in the historic Chinese city just one day earlier. During the five-day festival, which concluded on January 3, local theaters screened more than 200 films from 51 countries and regions, including 24 from countries along the Belt and Road routes. Some 10,000 free tickets were distributed to movie buffs eager to take a peek inside the cultural feast. Those who couldn't attend the festival in person could still enjoy the film extravaganza online.

A meeting of minds 

As part of China's Silk Road Film Bridge Project, the SRIFF aims to promote cultural exchange and cooperation between countries along the Belt and Road routes, all the while encouraging the growth of China's audiovisual industry. Since its inception in 2014, the annual event has taken place alternately in Xi'an and Fuzhou, capital of the southeastern province of Fujian. China Media Group and the provincial governments of Shaanxi and Fujian, respectively the starting point of the ancient Silk Road and the Maritime Silk Road, jointly organized this year's event.

"The Belt and Road Initiative, a China-proposed initiative that aims to boost connectivity along and beyond the ancient Silk Road routes, will celebrate its 10th anniversary this year. The SRIFF encourages cross-cultural communication and learning. The festival has steadily gained fame in the film world," Shen Haixiong, President of China Media Group, said at the festival's opening ceremony on January 1.

Nineteen films made it to the festival's Golden Silk Road competition, which attracted approximately 1,600 entries from 90 different countries and regions. Ten prizes were announced at the closing ceremony on January 3, including those for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress. 

The biggest winner was Belgian director Lukas Dhont's Close, a Belgian, Dutch and French co-production about the intense friendship between two 13-year-old boys. It won two significant honors: Best Film and Best Director. Best Animated Film went to French filmmaker Florence Miailhe's The Crossing, an animated feature film following the dramatic journey of two siblings, Kyona and her brother Adriel, who are running away because they are being pursued by an unspecified Eastern European country. Best Documentary went to Vietnamese Director Ha Le Diem's Children of the Mist which follows Di, a lively and bright 12-year-old, over a three-year period. The girl is torn between the traditions of the indigenous Hmong community in the mountains of north Viet Nam and the progressive values she's taught in school.

The jury consisted of internationally renowned Chinese and foreign filmmakers, led by Chinese director Diao Yinan. "Each of the films that made the short list gave us a unique and diverse experience. Some filmmakers are just beginning their careers, yet their works are remarkable, which is really inspirational," Diao said.

A stage for cooperation 

Gabonese actor and martial artist Luc Bendza, also the first representative in Asia of the African Film Association, described his debut at this year's festival as a "very inspiring and fruitful" experience. In addition to being invited to present the competing animated films to the audience at the opening ceremony, he also partook in the Silk Road Film Resource Sharing and Win-Win Cooperation Forum, one of the festival's seven sideline events, on January 2.

"The SRIFF is a wonderful venue for filmmakers from diverse backgrounds to interact and discuss ideas for potential collaboration," Bendza, who's been in China since 1983, said.

He got the opportunity to submit a Sino-African co-production project he'd been thinking about for a while to the speakers at the forum. In fact, he'd already found a seasoned Nigerian filmmaker looking to shoot a movie about Sino-African friendship before even embarking on his trip to Xi'an. He also pitched many script concepts to a renowned Chinese producer, trying to fuse parts of traditional Chinese culture, such as kungfu or Peking Opera, with African music or sports. "We want to make a movie that is equally concerned with ideology and viewing value," Bendza explained. 

Finding the funds to turn his project into a reality had previously proved difficult. But at the forum, his speech attracted the attention of the heads of the China Film Foundation and Changchun Film Studio Group Co., who found his idea to be very inspiring and were willing to cooperate with the African Film Association on this production. After their meeting, the stakeholders immediately embarked on the next step, namely, locking down a main theme and developing a script together.

During the festival, Bendza was delighted to see a number of excellent films from participating Belt and Road countries such as Viet Nam, Nepal and Cambodia. But he regretted the absence of African cinematic innovation. "The following SRIFF editions will feature African filmmakers," he promised, adding, "I will bring representative films from the continent to the Chinese public."

Bendza also voiced his high hopes for the Chinese film industry. China's box office came to 550 million yuan ($80.85 million) during the New Year's Day holiday, from December 31, 2022 to January 2, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Market analysts described these numbers as an indication that the domestic movie market was gradually rebounding following the country's relaxation of COVID-19 control policies.

With the box office of the seven-day Chinese New Year holiday from January 21 to 27, or the first Spring Festival holiday after China optimized its COVID-19 response, hitting 6.8 billion yuan ($1 billion), the much anticipated revival of China's box office is an encouraging demonstration of the mainland audience's enduring interest for cinema.