A CEREMONY was held in Kangbashi district, Ordos, Inner Mongolia autonomous region on July 1, to mark the start of the “2018 Looking China International Youth Film Project”, which has been held in the city for three consecutive years.

The project aims to display Chinese life through the eyes of foreign film-makers. This year’s programme was organised by Ordos New Media Centre with the support of Huilin Culture Fund of Beijing Normal University (BNU) and the university’s Institute for International Communication of Chinese Culture.

Su Cuifang, director of the publicity department of Ordos; Gao Feng, executive dean of the BNU’s Institute for International Communication of Chinese Culture; Zhou Mingfu, director of the film and television centre of the Grand National Theatre; Geoff Poister, professor of the School of Media Communications at Boston University, as well as around 10 young film-makers from the United States, Denmark and France, attended the ceremony.

In both Chinese and English, Su delivered a welcome speech, in which she extolled the deep ties between Ordos and the programme. As the city has developed we have worked hard to maintain the pristine natural environment of Ordos, she said.

She also expressed her wish that young film-makers will feel the history, culture and unique customs of Ordos while shooting their films, and called for more foreigners to come and experience the charms of Ordos. Gao also urged the participants in the programme to cherish the opportunity to experience authentic Chinese culture and accomplish shooting their films with the help of volunteers.

Before the announcement of the programme, Daleng Bayaer, an expert on ethnic culture in Ordos, was invited to discuss the city’s geographical features, ecological environment and Mongolian culture to both the Chinese and foreign attendees at the ceremony.

The project

The Looking China International Youth Film Project was first initiated in 2011, and has taken place for seven consecutive years. It offers opportunities to young film-makers from foreign countries to use their cameras to display their own unique interpretation of China. By the end of 2017, a total of 405 young people from 49 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom and France had produced 404 short films, which had won nearly 100 awards at foreign and domestic film festivals.

Themed “ecology, biology and living”, this year’s programme will be held in various areas, including Beijing, Chongqing, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, and Liaoning, Hubei and Jiangsu provinces.

This year marked the third time that Ordos has hosted the programme. Over the past two years, 11 directors from Israel, Pakistan, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia have produced more than 10 short films, with some of them winning prizes or being shown at domestic and foreign film festivals. The opportunity to host such an important event has given Ordos an unrivalled opportunity to promote itself around the world.

Filming in Ordos

During the programme, the film-makers will be divided into 10 groups and go to various areas in the city to shoot their films. According to the previous news release, the young film-makers will make videos on topics including “herdsman photographer”, “secret area Sarah Wusu”, “Sid and Joan”, “horse culture”, “green Chinese dream”, and “Whistling Dune Bay”. After 17 days, every participant will have made a 10-miniute video to be premiered on July 16 and be entered into the programme contest.

Previous films

In 2016, six films were produced by the young film-makers: Mongolian Bride, Horseland, Grasslands, Tana the Girl from Kangbashi and The Guardsmen. —China Daily

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2018