Photo: Courtesy of SCO Film Festival

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Film Festival is set be held from June 23 to 27 in Southwest China's Chongqing. Held in the run-up to the SCO Summit to be hosted by China this autumn, the event will include film screening and competition sections. 

China holds the rotating SCO presidency for 2025. Through this festival, China's film authority, the China Film Administration, hopes to facilitate the participating films from SCO countries to screen in China's cinemas and on TV and build platforms for exchanges and cooperation. 

China will further open its film market, said Mao Yu, executive deputy director-general of the China Film Administration in a speech on Wednesday. Chinese film distribution companies are encouraged to purchase and introduce outstanding films from the festival lineup for screening in cinemas or on television.

Two platforms for film talents and producers, the SCO Youth Film Talent Exchange Program and the SCO ­National Film Producers Association Alliance will be established as part of ­efforts to "provide training ­opportunities for young filmmakers from SCO ­member states who aspire to pursue film production and strengthen comprehensive and in-depth cooperation in the film ­industry among SCO member states," added Mao. 

"Film exchanges, especially film co-productions, have played an important role for all SCO countries as they share much similarity in culture, history and tradition," Sun Jiashan, an associate researcher at the Central Academy of Culture and Tourism Administration, told the Global Times on Thursday. 

He took Chinese movie Xuan Zang, a biographical movie based on the monk Xuanzang's journey to India during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), as an example. 

"Buddhism, a common cultural heritage between China and India, ­constitutes a crucial cultural resource for ­effective communication in bilateral cultural exchanges," he said, adding that these similar shared cultural heritages can provide opportunities to member states like China and India on film ­cooperation. 

"China is now the world's second largest film market and Bollywood movies are known to the world for their unique character. There is much more space for us all to expand," said Sun. 

SCO Deputy Secretary General Shri Janesh Kain stated in a video speech that hosting film festivals and film screening events has become a fine tradition of the SCO. 

He noted that he firmly believes that the film festival organized during China's rotating presidency will provide a unique opportunity to showcase the strength of the "Shanghai Spirit."