China holds film festival in Egypt to promote cultural exchange

CAIRO, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Cultural Center in Cairo held on Sunday an opening ceremony for China Film Festival that displays Chinese popular movies to the Egyptian audience as part of cultural exchange between China and Egypt.

Attended by the Chinese Ambassador to Cairo Liao Liqiang, as well as Chinese and Egyptian cultural officials, the event is held in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the People's Republic of China.

The festival displays six Chinese well-liked movies to promote the Chinese culture among Egyptian audience.

The Chinese ambassador highlighted the deep-rooted relations between China and Egypt that have recently been elevated to the level of comprehensive strategic partnership, stressing the importance of cultural exchange and interaction in fostering the friendship between the two countries.

"Egypt was the first Arab and African country to establish diplomatic relations with China about 63 years ago. Regardless of any changes in the regional and international conditions, the deep friendship and solid partnership between China and Egypt will not change," Liao said in his remarks during the opening ceremony.

"China produces annually 900 feature films and the total annual revenues of films in China have reached about 9 billion U.S. dollars," the Chinese ambassador added.

China Film Festival is one of several Chinese-Egyptian cultural activities held throughout the year.

Zhang Xin, director of the Cultural Exchange Center of Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism, said that this event is being held for the first time and it will be held in many other countries as well to promote cultural exchange between China and its friends.

"Movies represent one of the most popular forms of cultural communication, as they not only showcase the culture and history of a country but also the most important historical events," said the Chinese official to Xinhua.

The event is held in cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, which provides through its Cultural Development Fund two venues -- El Hanager Arts Center in Cairo and El Horreya Center for Creativity in Alexandria -- for displaying the Chinese films along with the Chinese Cultural Center.

"The Egyptian-Chinese diplomatic ties are strong. I would like also to assert that filmmakers and movie stars are always ambassadors for their cultures, such as Chinese actor Jackie Chan and many others," said Fathy Abdel-Wahab, head of the Cultural Development Fund.

For his part, Magdy al-Shahry, general manager of the Cinema Culture Center, which belongs to the Egyptian Film Center, said that cooperation has recently been fast growing between the Egyptian Ministry of Culture and the Chinese Cultural Center in Cairo.

"This festival is an important event to introduce aspects of the Chinese cinema to the Egyptian audience, for Chinese movies now take part in the international film festivals like those of Berlin, Cannes and Venice," the Egyptian official told Xinhua.

The Chinese film festival in Egypt will continue until July 18.