Illustration: Liu Xiangya/GT

The 2nd Maritime Silk Road Documentary Film Festival (MSRDOC) held recently in Fuzhou, East China's Fujian Province, showcased some 24 Chinese-foreign co-produced documentaries, marking the largest display of such works in recent years. 

Spanning themes from nature and history to technology, these films exemplify how cross-cultural collaboration is reshaping China's storytelling on the global stage. 

For example, the China-Japan co-production Obaku focuses on Buddhist cultural exchanges, the China-US co-production Dear Kuliang uses letters as a link to showcase people-to-people exchanges, and the China-Egypt co-production A Tale of Two Cities presents civilizational dialogue through city comparisons.

By transcending the limitations of singular cultural perspectives, co-productions are forging a new paradigm in which Chinese narratives resonate internationally while retaining their authenticity. At their core, co-productions address the challenge of the "cultural discount" - the diminished appeal of content due to cultural unfamiliarity. 

The dual-perspective approach inherent in collaborative projects bridges this gap. Take for example A Long Cherished Dream, directed by British filmmaker and two-time Oscar winner Malcolm Clarke, which chronicles China's social transformation through the lives of ordinary citizens. 

"The serial documentary A Long Cherished Dream tells four stories about a 'moderately prosperous' society, which means both eliminating poverty and enabling every Chinese to realize their dreams," the director once described in the documentary's world premiere in 2021. 

Its "little guy, grand era" narrative struck a chord with Western audiences, dismantling stereotypes by humanizing China's development story. 

Similarly, Dear Kuliang, a China-US co-production, reimagines historical diplomacy through the eyes of a 16-year-old US girl by retracing her family's century-old connection to China's Fujian Province. 

"Emotions transcend time and borders," Liu Siyuan, producer of Dear Kuliang, told the Global Times, encapsulating the universal language of shared humanity that underpins such works.  

"No matter where you are, human emotions are universal and can be passed down across generations, even over a century," said Liu, adding that this was what impressed him the most while making the documentary.

Co-productions leverage international partners' distribution networks and creative expertise to maximize reach. 

The commercial success of Meg 2: The Trench starring Wu Jing and Jason Statham, a China-Hollywood fusion of Chinese capital and Hollywood spectacle, demonstrates the viability of this model as the film grossed $417 million worldwide. 

Yet beyond box-office metrics, documentaries like Searching for Giquel (China-France) reveal deeper synergies. 

By reviving the story of 19th-century French naval officer Prosper Giquel's contributions to China's Fujian Shipyard, the film taps into collective historical memory, creating what French producer Guilhene Lop calls "a touchpoint for cross-cultural empathy."  

"I was very positive about the potential of the Chinese documentary industry and I think the foreign producers and foreign companies can help the documentaries to be broadcast outside of China," she told the Global Times.

Crucially, these collaborations are evolving from mere "borrowed boats" for overseas distribution to "jointly built ships" navigating global waters. 

Chinese producer Li Xiangdong highlights this shift through Peking Man: The Last Secrets of Humankind, a Chinese-French archaeological documentary. Scenes of a barefoot French director demonstrating ancient hunting techniques to Chinese actors symbolize the fusion of Eastern and Western storytelling - cold scientific inquiry transformed into warm human narrative. 

"Civilization is not a solo, but a symphony across time," remarked Li during the event, underscoring how co-creation enriches both content and perspective.  

The Asia-Pacific region, with its cultural diversity and wealth of untold stories, presents fertile ground for such collaborations. 

As Alex Lee, director and co-founder of New Zealand's Doc Edge, New Zealand's national documentary organization and Oscar qualifying film festival, observed, regional cooperation is "not just beneficial but imperative" in an era of global transformation. 

Recent partnership signings at MSRDOC - spanning projects with France, the US, and Laos - signal growing momentum. 

Egyptian director Hanan Rady's A Tale of Two Cities exemplifies this spirit, using urban contrasts to facilitate mutual understanding between ancient civilizations.  

She told the Global Times that both Egypt and China boast ancient civilizations and that making such a work could help the peoples of the two countries know each other better.

Yet challenges persist. Balancing cultural authenticity with universal appeal requires nuanced navigation. 

The solution lies in what might be termed "globalized storytelling" - narratives rooted in local specificity yet framed through globally accessible lenses. 

As China's film industry matures, its international partnerships are becoming less about didactic cultural export and more about dialogic exchange. 

The MSRDOC showcases signal a maturation - from seeking external validation to pursuing equal creative partnerships. 

In this new era, Chinese stories gain dimensionality through foreign lenses, while global audiences access fresh perspectives. The result is a win-win: China's cultural soft power grows not through monolithic messaging, but via collaborative narratives that celebrate our shared human tapestry. 

In conclusion, Chinese-foreign co-productions have given Chinese stories a new dimension of international expression. 

They not only facilitate cultural exchange and mutual understanding but also enrich the content and forms of Chinese film and television culture, propelling it to the world stage with greater vigor.

The author is a reporter with the Global Times. life@globaltimes.com.cn