In order to actively respond to the latest "Letter of Intent on Film Cooperation between the National Film Administration of the People's Republic of China and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Italy" signed between China and Italy, we will build a high-end exchange and screening platform for outstanding emerging directors from China and Italy, and encourage more emerging directors from both countries to participate in the film industry. Demonstrating outstanding talent in art and providing strong support for their future development in the professional field, the Cultural Office of the Italian Consulate General in Shanghai and the Shanghai Film Distribution and Exhibition Industry Association, together with the Italian Puglia Film Commission and the Italian Trecani Encyclopedia Quanshu Research Institute and Shanghai Art Film Alliance jointly launched the "Zhongyi: Emerging Director Project".
On January 20, the organizers signed the "China-Italy: Memorandum of Cooperation on Emerging Directors Project" and announced important measures.
The organizers signed a memorandum of cooperation
The project specially invites famous Chinese drama film directors, who twice won the highest award for Chinese films - the Golden Rooster Award for Best Opera Film, and twice won the International Advanced Imaging Association's Best 3D Film of the Year and Best 8K Feature Film Award in Los Angeles - Mr. Teng Junjie, winner of the Lumière Prize, serves as the artistic director of the Chinese aspect of the project, and Marco Murray, a well-known international film curator, is invited to serve as the artistic director of the Italian aspect of the project.
Chinese Director Teng Junjie and Italian Director Marco Muller
Teng Junjie introduced that the project plans to hold two film weeks every year: Italian Film Week in Shanghai, China, every March (spring); Chinese Film Week in Italy every September (autumn) (it will be held in Rome, Italy in 2025). Film Week screenings focus on the debut or second feature films of emerging directors.
This year marks the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Italy. It will also celebrate the 130th anniversary of the birth of world cinema and the 120th anniversary of the birth of Chinese cinema. As a country with a profound film culture, the Italian film industry has produced numerous masters and produced many film history classics, such as "Cinema Paradiso", "The Last Emperor", "Zoom In", "Life is Beautiful", etc. "Beginning in the 1940s and 1950s, Italy began the creation of neorealism, showing real life through movies, and movies have also become an important window representing our Italian cultural life. And today's group of cutting-edge directors, they It inherits the great tradition of Italian films in the past, and at the same time continues to use its own unique artistic expression to show the world the current concepts of Italian life, beauty and culture," said Italian Consul General in Shanghai Antija in his speech.
Marco Müller, a film scholar who has been dedicated to the exchange of films between China and foreign countries for many years, recalled that he began to study Chinese films in the late 1970s and has always paid special attention to the new generation of directors. In recent years, he has also provided support to many festivals and exhibition platforms in China. Something about newcomers. He specifically pointed out that the "new" in the name of this project does not only refer to young directors, but also to emerging and new trends. Some of the directors whose works will be screened this time have been working in the film industry for more than ten or twenty years, such as There are new films starring popular Italian stars, as well as works by well-known female singers of the moment. As one of the film selectors for this Shanghai Italian Film Week, he hopes that the more "popular" films he chooses will be in line with the aesthetics of today's young audiences.
As the Chinese artistic director, Teng Junjie said that in the coming March, the Italian Film Week will definitely bring the best films from this European film country in recent years to Shanghai. “I believe the audience will be interested in them. The film’s language and narrative rhythm are both excellent and in line with contemporary aesthetic psychology. It represents one of the highest standards of European and world cinema and is worth looking forward to.”
While the film festival is being held, representatives of the new generation of directors from both sides will carry out relevant forums, workshops and other film exchange activities at the venue of the film festival. Outstanding emerging directors from China and Italy will have the opportunity to share resources and jointly participate in film creation. Through in-depth dialogue and cooperation, they will improve the creative skills of directors from both countries, promote mutual reference and integration of the film cultures of the two countries, explore the infinite possibilities of film art, and provide Breathing new life into world cinema.
In addition, the project encourages emerging film directors from China and Italy to understand each other's culture with a more open mind and a more inclusive perspective, and to create more film works that reflect common human emotions and values. The project plans that emerging directors from both parties can jointly create a good work in the next three years and jointly enhance the international influence of the two countries' films.
