STORY: Foreign filmmakers shoot documentaries in China's Anhui
SHOOTING TIME: May 10, 2024
DATELINE: May 13, 2024
LENGTH: 00:01:58
LOCATION: HEFEI, China
CATEGORY: CULTURE

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the ceremony
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): WEERADDANA CHATHURI PRIYANKA DE SILVA, Filmmaker from Sri Lanka
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): IPEK ERTAN, Filmmaker from Canada
4. SOUNDBITE 3 (English): ZHANG YUQIANG, Professor of Communication University of China

STORYLINE:

Ten international filmmakers were invited to shoot the life and culture in the rural areas of east China's Anhui last week as part of Looking China annual youth film project.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): WEERADDANA CHATHURI PRIYANKA DE SILVA, Filmmaker from Sri Lanka
"This is my first time to China. I think making a documentary is a best way to gain knowledge about China. Because we could interact with these Chinese students who helped us a lot to understand China and the culture, the tradition and the vividness. It's a great opportunity. I think we share different sets of emotions while we understand each other, we support each other to understand the different traditions and methods. So I think it's a really good way to understand China and Sri Lankan culture. When I see my other fellow participants' documentaries, their topics, I feel like I should come to China again and explore more about these other topics because they are so good, so interesting."

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): IPEK ERTAN, Filmmaker from Canada
"You're cooperating with someone from a complete different culture so they have a complete different way of doing things. It definitely helps in understanding how Chinese people think, how they live their life. So I think, like definitely collaborating between two different cultures, we learned a lot from each other."

SOUNDBITE 3 (English): ZHANG YUQIANG, Professor of Communication University of China
"They (foreign directors) recorded daily life of Chinese people in an earnest, attentive and professional approach. More importantly, through film making, they explored traditional Chinese culture and philosophy. In fact, China's excellent culture is a great part of the world, and is what the world's culture cannot live without. They are intertwined with each other."
   
The Looking China project, co-hosted by the Huilin Foundation and the Academy for International Communication of Chinese Culture, has been successfully held 13 times since its establishment in 2011.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Hefei, China.
(XHTV)