A special exhibition marking 120 years of Chinese cinema has opened in Shanghai on the sidelines of the 27th Shanghai International Film Festival.
Titled "Where Dreams Were Created", the showcase offers visitors a chance to immerse themselves the rich history of Chinese filmmaking and how it has developed over the past century.
The exhibition comprises eight themed sections, ranging from martial arts and animation to science-fiction, cinematography and virtual reality. Many of the items on display are being shown to the public for the first time.
At the animation section, clips from films made by the Shanghai Animation Film Studio (SAFS) are on view alongside the original celluloid from Havoc in Heaven, an award-winning animated film produced by SAFS in the 1960s.
Also on display is a poster for Nezha Conquers the Dragon King, another SAFS production first released in 1979 which inspired the recent Chinese blockbuster Ne Zha 2.
The poster, which appeared in Cannes in 1980 to promote the movie, marks a key moment in the international recognition of Chinese animation.
"Nezha Conquers the Dragon King was the first feature-length animated film from China to be showcased at the Cannes Film Festival. The poster here is actually the one that appeared in Cannes. It sees to be just a poster, but it signifies a crucial milestone for Chinese animation as it stepped onto the international stage," said Xu Yi, curator of the exhibition.
The science fiction section includes stills from Death-Ray on Coral Island, the first sci-fi film made after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, and the July 2000 issue of Science Fiction World magazine -- where the novel The Wandering Earth first appeared -- a story that was later adapted into a blockbuster in 2019.
The "Where Dreams Were Created" exhibition runs until 27 July.
Special exhibition takes audiences on trip through history of Chinese filmmaking
