19th Chinese American film, TV festivals kick off in LA

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- The 19th Chinese American Film Festival and the Chinese American Television Festival kicked off here Wednesday evening.

Nearly 1,000 participants gathered in the Sheraton Los Angeles San Gabriel for the cultural event, which aims to promote film and television industry exchanges and cooperation between China and the United States.

This year's festivals received over 500 film and television entries. A total of 10 films won the Golden Angel Award at the event, including "No More Bets," "Lost in Stars," "Hidden Blade," "Manifesto," and "Face in the Crowd."

The Best Film Award went to "The Wandering Earth II," while the Best China and U.S. Co-Production Film Award went to "The Meg 2: The Trench."

Four American movies won the Most Popular U.S. Film in China Award, including Disney Pictures' "Avatar: The Way of Water" and "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," Universal Pictures' "Fast X," Paramount Pictures' "Transformers: Rise of the Beats" and Sony Pictures' "Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse."

Founded in 2005 by EDI Media Inc., the annual event is usually held in Los Angeles every November.

The Los Angeles County Office has named November as "Chinese American Film Festival and Chinese American Television Festival Month."

A series of panels will be held during the festivals, bringing together professionals in the Chinese and American film and television industries to share their experiences and discuss cooperation.

In a video address at the opening ceremony, Yang Guorui, deputy director of China's National Radio and Television Administration, said that over the past 19 years, the Chinese-American film and TV festivals have set up a successful platform for China-U.S. exchanges and cooperation in the audiovisual industry.

"We are willing to positively bring about co-productions with our American counterparts to present more high-quality content to the people of both countries and the international audience; explore better cooperation models and jointly develop high-quality services and products; promote experience exchanges and talent training, and jointly address opportunities and challenges brought by new technologies and new business formats," he said.

Calling the exchanges in the film and TV industries an important part of China-U.S. people-to-people exchanges, Guo Shaochun, Chinese consul general in Los Angeles, said film and TV works help people from both countries better understand each other's culture and traditions, which in turn, deepens friendship between the peoples of both countries.

"Being the world's top film markets, China and the U.S. have a big job. It's not just about making and sharing outstanding movies and TV shows, but also about working together even harder. We should, through co-productions, team up to create more films and series that can attract and touch the audiences in both countries and the world," he said.

James Su, chairman of EDI Media Inc., organizer of the festivals, said he hoped that the festivals will further boost exchanges and cooperation between the two countries' film and television industries, and serve as a bridge to promote friendship and understanding between the peoples.