Promotional material of Kite Kite Photo: China News

A Chinese documentary based on the first Chinese-French co-produced film The Magic of the Kite is scheduled to be released in China on June 1, International Children's Day, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the film.

The Magic of the Kite is the first feature film produced by a Chinese studio and a foreign studio as well as the first Chinese children's color film after the founding of the PRC. The film premiered in France in 1958, and its release promoted understanding, communication and exchanges between Chinese and French people, China News reported.  

The Magic of the Kite tells the story of 12-year-old French boy Pierrot and his younger sister who accidently discover a kite that flew across the ocean from China. They treat the kite, which is painted with an image of the legendary Chinese figure the Monkey King, as a treasure. Pierrot later found that attached to the kite was a letter written by a Chinese boy Song Xiaoqing. Inspired, Pierrot makes a wish to become friends with Song. The Monkey King then comes to life and uses his magic to take Pierrot and his sister to China on an adventure. 

Sixty years later, the three protagonists met again and recalled their stories of going to the places where they filmed in The Magic of the Kite in the documentary Kite Kite, which reunites the cast from the original film. The film also features interviews with more than 30 Chinese and French people who were influenced by The Magic of the Kite, including French actress Sophie Marceau who came to China for a visit after watching the film and Chinese-French woman Wang Jinhua, who gained an affection for French culture through the film and later married a French man. 

Kite Kite, 81 minutes and 21 seconds in length, mainly tells the stories that took place behind the scenes of The Magic of the Kite, which was filmed in many places of France and China and mainly introduced the hometown of kite - Weifang in East China's Shandong Province. 

The documentary was broadcast on French TV station TV5Monde in 2019, and is set to be released in China on June 1. 

Global Times