A foreign journalist films the trophy and mascots of the Golden Panda Awards in Beijing on August 26, 2023. Photo: VCG

China will establish a new international award ceremony for cultural exchanges, which include films and TV series, in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, according to a press conference on Saturday in Beijing.

Hosted by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the Sichuan Provincial Government, the Golden Panda Awards will be held every two years and be permanently based in Sichuan. The first event will be launched in Chengdu from September 19 to 20.

"Renowned Chinese director Zhang Yimou will be the chairman of the jury," said Zhang Hong, a deputy director of the office of the Organizing Committee of the First Golden Panda Awards on Saturday.

The Golden Panda Awards is an international communication award that demonstrates the concept of a human community with a shared future, rather than a professional film and television award. In terms of the composition of the judges, the number of foreign judges will account for no less than 40 percent of the judging panel, which also demonstrates the internationality and openness of the Golden Panda Awards.

Aiming to be a grand international event to deepen cultural exchanges and promote mutual learning among different civilizations, the Golden Panda Awards is open to excellent film and television works that "show the common values of all mankind and common aesthetic pursuits. Through this event, the world can get closer to China, while China can embrace the world and better carry out cultural exchanges and mutual learning."

The First Golden Panda Awards has four categories: film, TV series, documentary and animated works with three main activities, Night of the Golden Panda, the Golden Panda International Cultural Forum and the Golden Panda Gala, as well as three types of supporting events ranging from visiting events, public film screenings and new exhibitions.

Wu Weishan, director of the National Art Museum of China, shared highlights of the awards' visual designs from its logo and mascots to the award statuette.

The logo of the Golden Panda Awards was designed by a team at the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts. A panda forms the main body, while Tai Chi elements have been incorporated into the design. The design has a strong visual impact and expresses the interaction, exchanges and mutual learning between different cultures. The statuette was designed by the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. The overall shape is a cute panda engraved on the top of bamboo joints, which represents the concept of "steadily rising quality" with each award.

"The golden lining of the outline of the Golden Panda makes the panda appear as if it is wearing a golden halo in the rising sun, which echoes the core value of the Golden Panda Awards," Wu told the Global Times on Saturday.

A total of 90 films and TV series selected from 7,024 works by artists in 104 countries and regions such as the US, India and Iran have been nominated for the next stage of the awards, which is set to start in the middle of September, said Ren Zhonglun, a jury member for the First Golden Panda Awards and also vice chairman of the China Film Association.

With the panda a cultural symbol and films and TV series as a carrier, the Golden Panda Awards seeks to build a platform for mutual learning and cultural exchanges among civilizations, showcasing the diversity of world's civilizations, said Gao Zhongwei, the other deputy director of the office of the Organizing Committee of the First Golden Panda Awards.

In addition to this new international award, the Chinese mainland also has two international film festivals, one in Beijing and the other in Shanghai.