Photo: Courtesy of organizers

A series of cross-Straits cultural exchange activities were recently held at the ongoing China Golden Rooster & Hundred Flowers Film Festival, ­China's top film awards ceremony, which is being held from Wednesday to Saturday in the coastal city of Xiamen, East China's Fujian Province.

Approximately 100 people in the film sector from the island of Taiwan have been invited to the film festival to take part in a variety of events from talks to film screenings. 

Director Yuyu Yang promoted her upcoming long film Penguin Girl on Thursday in Xiamen. The film is based on her same-named short video that was shortlisted for the Golden Rooster Youth Short Film Season in 2023, which gave her the courage to continue creating.

Talking about cross-Straits film exchanges and cooperation, she told the Global Times that she hopes that "filmmakers can innovate stories and create works that can better realize cross-Straits exchanges." 

She also hopes the core value of "love and courage" in the Penguin Girl can resonate with audiences on both sides of the Taiwan Straits. Now she is working with Chinese mainland distributors and is expecting "good cooperation results in the future."

After taking part in a special screening section on Wednesday afternoon, director Wei Te-sheng, known to the both sides of the Taiwan Straits for his work Cape No.7, said that Xiamen holds a special place for him as his first visit to the mainland was for filming in the city.

"I'm very familiar with Xiamen, and Taiwan and Xiamen share a similar language, culture, and lifestyle. I look forward to future collaborations starting from such culturally close environments. It might be the best beginning," he said.

Film and television culture is an important means of inheriting and promoting fine Chinese culture, and it is also a popular form of communication among young people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits, Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said during a press conference on Wednesday.

During the festival, nine Taiwan films will be screened, including 816 BIG, City of Sadness, and Flowers of Shanghai. Additionally, eight more films from Taiwan currently in production will be showcased as part of the Golden Rooster Awards' project promotion platform. Some directors from Taiwan will also take part in creative exchange camps aiming to deepen cross-Straits film collaboration.

Zhang Chi, director of the External Relations Office of the China Film ­Association, expressed that they expect that filmmakers from both sides of the Taiwan Straits will work together to produce more high-quality films, create more shared memories of the times and cinematic experiences for people on both sides, and promote the continuous breakthrough of new forces in Chinese-language cinema. 

"These filmmakers should root themselves domestically while exploring internationally, and shine on the global stage with diverse creative expressions," he told the Global Times.

Renowned film critic Tan Fei, who will host a forum on Chinese films on Friday, also remarked on the close ties between Xiamen and Taiwan. 

"Xiamen is just kilometers away from Kinmen county, so it's very convenient for Taiwan filmmakers to come here. It reflects the close familial bonds across the Straits. The fusion of cultures is unstoppable," Tan said.

He noted that exchanges with Taiwan filmmakers can not only deepen understanding, but also lead to possible future collaborations. 

"Filmmakers have always cooperated. We're all Chinese, and by working together, we can create more excellent works," Tan said.

Taiwan sound designer Tu Duu Chih also said that the cultural understanding between the mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong is basically the same. "We share many common symbols that we understand intuitively and together we can work towards finding better ways to express ourselves in Chinese cinema," he said.

The four-day event will feature a variety of film activities, including the 37th China Golden Rooster Awards red carpet ceremony and awards ceremony scheduled for Saturday.

Six Chinese mainland films - The Volunteers: To the War, Endless Journey, Viva La Vida, One and Only, Article 20 and Johnny Keep Walking! - are set to compete for the coveted Best Feature Award.

The year 2024's film festival will also include multiple screenings of domestic and international films.