Chinese film festival opens at PNCA with ‘Founding of a Republic’

Annual event held in major cities across the world aims to promote Chinese culture

ISLAMABAD: One of the largest Chinese cultural events, Chinese Film Festival, commenced on Wednesday with the screening of hit Chinese film The Founding of a Republic at Pakistan National Council of Arts (PNCA).

In collaboration with Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the festival is initiated to promote the celebrations of the 70th founding anniversary of Peoples Republic of China and the 68th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relationship between China and Pakistan.

The event was launched by Chinese Embassy, China Cultural Center in Pakistan and China Film Archive to introduce one of the best works of Chinese cinema to the people of Pakistan as top Chinese films will be screened for local audiences till Saturday, July 6.

According to the schedule released by PNCA, the festival started off with the screening of 2009 movie The Founding of a Republic at 8pm in the PNCA auditorium.

Moreover, the movie Brotherhood of Blades II will be screened today at 11am followed by lunch at 1pm, then the next movies to be screened  are Ashima at 2pm and Taste of Rice Flower at 5pm at the PNCA Auditorium.

Furthermore, the PNCA Lecture Hall will be screening Operation Mekong at 11am, Himalayas: Ladder to Paradise at 2pm and The Taste of Rice Flower at 4pm.

The festival will continue the next day with a lecture at 11am, lunch at 1pm followed by a conference at 2pm while later that evening, the movie The Founding of a Republic will be screened at 6pm.

On the last day of the festival, the movie The Grandmaster will be screened at 11am, Brotherhood of Blades II will be screened at 2pm and The Knot will be screened at 5pm in the evening at the PNCA Auditorium, while Brotherhood of Blades II will be screened at 11am, The Knot at 2pm and Ashmia at 5pm in the evening which will conclude the festival.

It is one of the largest and most popular Chinese cultural events and is held annually in major cities of the world. The festival is aimed at promoting Chinese films and improving communication and collaboration between the Chinese film industry professionals and their international counterparts.

Cinema was introduced in China in 1896 and the first Chinese film Dingjun Mountain was made in 1905, with the film industry being centered on Shanghai in its first few decades. The 1930s, were considered the golden period of Chinese cinema.  

Published in The Express Tribune, July 4^th, 2019.