Sydney & Melbourne to Unveil Chinese Film Festival

If you are a movie lover and happen to be Down Under at present, you could be one of the lucky few to attend the Third Sydney Chinese Film Festival scheduled for early February.

CRI Australian correspondent Chen Xi has more.

Organizers told a media conference that more than 30 movies from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan will be screened in the Australian cities of Sydney and Melbourne.

The 10-day celebration starting on February 5th is strongly supported by the Chinese and Australian governments.

Ji Ningfeng, Vice-Consul of the Chinese Consulate in Sydney believes the Chinese blockbusters will help better the understanding between the two peoples.

"Too much has been said about film being the bridge between cultures and peoples. This Sydney film festival not only gives movie lovers here in Australia—both Chinese and Australian—a good chance to enjoy good and up-to-date Chinese movies, but also helps Australians to better understand China and helps to deepen the friendship between China and Australia."

About 10 of the movies to be shown will compete for the Gold Koala Award, the first of its kind for this three-year-old movie festival.

The five-person jury is headed by Tania Chambers, Chief Executive of Screen New South Wales. She says she can't wait to see which Chinese films will win a Gold Koala Award.

"The awards are for best film, best director and best actor and best actress in both lead roles. There were very diverse films, very wonderful and interesting subject matters. Some of them are large-scale films, some are historical pieces, some are very cultural, specific to ethnic regions in particular areas in China, giving you an inside look into very human experiences in the contemporary world."

The opening night of the event will feature many Chinese movie stars, including well-known actress Qin Hailu, actor Guo Tao and Wang Qianyan, who was selected best actor at the 2010 Tokyo International Film Festival.

In the past three years, the Sydney Chinese Film Festival has become one of the most important Sino-Australian cultural events as well as an exciting experience for local movie fans to see stories from another land.

For CRI, I'm Chen Xi in Sydney, Australia.