Shanghai Int'l Film Festival launches Belt and Road Film Week to foster multicultural exchanges

The 27th Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) unveiled its Belt and Road Film Week on Wednesday, gathering filmmakers from partner countries to explore opportunities for international collaboration and innovation in cinema.

With the theme of "Travel with Films," the activity has selected 15 diverse films from countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, many of which were shortlisted for the main competition sections of international festivals like Rotterdam, Locarno, and Tokyo.

Attendees say they are happy that their films can receive such global exposure via the event.

"I think it's very nice and very positive films to travel, especially for us that we are a small country. If the films can reach China and the audience through the Shanghai Film Festival, that's great," said Dimitris Kerkinos, a filmmaker who is involved in the organization of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival in Greece.

"We hope to communicate and learn with more filmmakers from other partner countries. Cinema builds bridges between hearts and minds. So we hope we can have the opportunity to join hands with international friends to and elevate our craft together," said Chinese actor Huang Xiaoming, who is an ambassador for the Belt and Road Film Week.

Since its founding in 2018, the Belt and Road Film Festival Alliance has grown significant from around 30 organizations to now boasting 56 institutions spanning 49 nations.

Mohamed Tarek, artistic director of the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF), said that the partnership opens doors for Egyptian and Chinese filmmakers to create more extraordinary works.

"I believe that film is a kind of universal language that can like transcend any language barrier or anything like this. It's a great cooperation and we hope like this can bring us also more opportunities for Egyptian and Chinese filmmakers to make more collaborations," he said.

The week's agenda includes a series of roundtable discussions, forums and other activities, where over 40 filmmakers from more than 20 countries will discuss co-production opportunities, global distribution strategies, and explore how to better nurture talents.

"Last year we were signatories to help promote the Belt and Road Film Week and we're delighted to be back again this year. We've seen and heard from many interesting directors and filmmakers today from a variety of countries, a lot with very positive stories to tell. And I think it's just very exciting to see," said Alex Butler, general manager of the media outlet Shanghai Spotlight.

The 27th SIFF kicked off with a grand opening ceremony on Saturday, attracting global stars and setting a new record with 3,900 film submissions from 119 countries.

Founded in 1993, the film festival is now seen as a prestigious global event, driven by Shanghai's ambition to become an international cultural hub, while garnering growing international attention thanks to China's flourishing film market.

Shanghai Int'l Film Festival launches Belt and Road Film Week to foster multicultural exchanges

The death toll from a landfill collapse in the central Philippine city of Cebu has risen to eight by Monday morning as search and rescue operations continued for another 28 missing people.

The landfill collapse occurred on Thursday as dozens of sanitation workers were working at the site. The disaster has already caused injuries of 18 people.

Family members of the missing people said the rescue progress is slow, and the hope for the survival of their loved ones is fading.

"For me, maybe I’ve accepted the worst result already because the garbage is poisonous and yesterday, it was raining very hard the whole day. Maybe they’ve been poisoned. For us, alive or dead, I hope we can get their bodies out of the garbage rubble," said Maria Kareen Rubin, a family member of a victim.

Families have set up camps on high ground near the landfill, awaiting news of their relatives. Some people at the site said cries for help could still be heard hours after the landfill collapsed, but these voices gradually faded away.

Bienvenido Ranido, who lost his wife in the disaster, said he can't believe all that happened.

"After they gave my wife oxygen, my kids and I were expecting that she would be saved that night because she was still alive. But the night came and till the next morning, they didn't manage to save her," he said.

Death toll in central Philippine landfill collapse rises to eight