Five-country co-production receives nods during the BRICS Film Festival

Known as one of the most important sideline events of the BRICS Summit, the 2nd BRICS Film Festival has now concluded in Chengdu.

CRI's Fu Yu has details.

The 2nd BRICS Film Festival closed with a five-country co-production winning the Artistic Merit Award.

Chinese director Jia Zhangke has teamed up with four established directors from Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa to make a movie, "Where Has Time Gone?", which is scheduled to be released in September this year. Titled "Revive" or "Feng Chun" in Chinese, the Chinese segment of the film focuses on the relax of the second-child policy. [Picture: Courtesy of BRICS Film Festival Organizing Committee]

Film makers of the five-country co-production "Where Has Time Gone?"receives the Artistic Merit Award during the closing ceremony of the 2nd BRICS Film Festival in Chengdu of China on June 27th, 2017. [Photo: Courtesy of BRICS Film Festival Organizing Committee]

"Where Has Time Gone?" premiered during the festival. It's an anthology of five short stories made by filmmakers from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Each short film showcases a different understanding on the subject of time.

Jury president Xie Fei explains why the movie is worthing of the festival's top award.

"This movie is a fine example of our endeavor in promoting the cultural exchange and consolidating public support for cooperation among BRICS countries. It also brings diversity to the world cinema. "

The celebration of diversity is definitely the norm for this year's BRICS Film Festival.

Two films were honoured with the Jury Special Award: "The Second Mother" from Brazil and "Ayanda and the Mechanic " from South Africa. Another Brazilian drama "Nise: The Madness of Heart" was named Best Film; Russian filmmakers Kim Druzhinin and Andrey shalopa were crowned Best Director; Indian actor Alok Rajwade took home the trophy for Best Actor.

Brazilian dancers perform during the closing ceremony of the 2nd BRICS Film Festival held in the Chinese city of Chengdu on June 27th, 2017. [Photo: Courtesy of BRICS Film Festival Organizing Committee]

Zhou Dongyu received the Best Actress award for her performance in the romantic drama "July and Ansheng", She said she was impressed by the opportunity that the 2nd BRICS Film Festival offered since it served as a platform for industry insiders from various cultures to exchange ideas.

"I think different cultures share the same language through movies."

The statistics have proved her point.

Wu Yan is the operations manager from the UA Cinemas, one of the film festival venues.

"Attendance levels in our cinema reached 73.3% during the BRICS Film Festival, which breaks the record for any film screened in Chengdu. Usually, a film would screen at 20% to 50% of attendance. So 73% is quite impressive. Some films selected during this festival became so popular that the tickets were sold out."

But screening movies from other countries is not enough.

Russian delegates meet Chinese audiences on June 25th, 2017. [Photo:Courtesy of BRICS Film Festival Organizing Committee]

In order to deepen cooperation among BRICS member states, during the festival, delegations have also agreed to release a plan for film collaboration in the next five years and a talent development program.

The 2nd BRICS Film Festival ran from June 23rd to June 27th.

The next edition will be held in South Africa.