On September 20, the Belt and Road Film Industry Development Dialogue of the 13th Silk Road International Film Festival opened in Xi'an. Global film festival delegates, celebrated directors and producers met in the ancient city to explore transnational co-production, cross-cultural creation and global distribution.

During the keynote session, Mohamed Hussein Mahmoud Fahmy, President of the Cairo International Film Festival, highlighted the enduring cultural ties between Egypt and China. He expressed his hope that partnerships between film festivals would further promote dialogue between the two civilizations and warmly invited representatives from all sectors to attend the Cairo International Film Festival, which will open on November 11 this year.

Lu Liang, Deputy Director of the China Film Archive, elaborated on the transnational revitalization of film heritage. He noted that the archive has digitally and preservatively restored over 10,000 films, including more than 500 2K restored titles and over 80 4K restored works. He called for strengthened cooperation among Silk Road countries in joint restoration, academic exchanges, digital resource sharing and reciprocal film screenings.

Liu Chun, Deputy General Manager of China Film Group Corporation, highlighted the company's cross-border cooperation with eight Silk Road countries, which has produced 23 films and brought 141 films from 30 nations to cinemas in the Chinese mainland. He called for a full industry chain spanning co-production, copyright trading and talent development to strengthen connectivity between Chinese and global film markets.

 

The roundtable, themed "Jointly Building the Silk Road Visual Ecosystem," brought together industry leaders to discuss co-production talent, cross-cultural storytelling, animation exports, Silk Road IP development and overseas distribution.

Participants agreed that sustainable cross-border film and television cooperation requires more than occasional hits. It depends on shared emotions, global storytelling and coordinated development across production, technology, distribution and IP.

At the ceremony, the festival signed agreements for a China-Kyrgyzstan co-produced feature film and a multinational documentary involving creators from China, France, Turkey, Greece, and other countries. The Silk Road International Film Festival also established strategic partnerships with the Cairo International Film Festival, the Chinese American Film Festival, and the New Zealand China Film Festival to support cross-border film and television projects.