'Looking China' youth film project launched
The 2023 "Looking China" Youth Film Project has been launched at Shanghai Vancouver Film School.
The "Looking China" Youth Film Project is encouraging young foreign filmmakers to experience the diversity of cultures and share their thoughts on China with the world through documentaries.
Since its inception in 2010, "Looking China" has supported more than 800 young people from 101 countries and regions to make documentary films about a real, vibrant and glamorous China.
These films have been exhibited all over the world and uploaded on Tencent Video, YouTube and Facebook. Many have won international awards.
Over the years, the project has also accelerated cultural exchanges and friendships among foreign youth and Chinese producers and volunteers.
According to Chen Xiaoda, deputy director of Shanghai Vancouver Film School, it is the third time the film school and the School of Journalism and Communications of Shanghai University will host the youth film project. After two weeks of shooting and production, the films will be screened on various platforms.
This year the films will focus on "Folk Residence, Folk Song, Folk Custom." Through directors' personal experience and perspective, the films are expected to show both China's modernity and time-honored culture and arts.
An outstanding film made in a previous edition of the event is "The Song of New China."
The film uses freeze frame animation as the presentation method to take viewers into the history behind the national anthem.
Since its online release, "The Song of New China" has received a lot of favorable comments. The number of domestic views has reached 164 million. It also became a trendy topic on social media Weibo. The number of film exposures on YouTube alone in foreign countries has reached nearly 500,000.
Professor Luo Jun, deputy director of Beijing Normal University's Academy for International Communication of Chinese Culture, noted that the youth film project was initiated 12 years ago by his university to encourage more young foreigners to tell China stories and share their own experiences in China.
"This year many films shot in Shanghai are also expected to explore and showcase the city's East-meets-West culture and arts, as well as its distinctive charm, a fascinating combination of tradition and modernity," said Professor Luo.
