Madame Zhao Shi Talked with Mrs Petra Jablonski aboutSwedish Film and Culture at Opening Ceremony of ChinaToday Film Show

Chinese actor Yu Shaoqun and actress Na Renhua introducedChinese films to audience

China Today Film Show introduced 6 selected excellent Chinese films

During China Today Arts Week sponsored by China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (CFLAC) in Sweden in late September, Chinese Film Delegation presented China Today Film Show as a part of the Arts Week with six Chinese films. They are Forever Enthralled, The Message, Go Lala Go, My Mongolian Mother, Bodyguards and Assassins and Aftershock.

On the next afternoon since our arrival at Vasteras, we came to ELEKTRA cinema to prepare for the opening ceremony on the day to follow. There we met Petra, a soprano, whose husband is the main local sponsor Patrick, a famous pianist. During the talk, Petra learnt a lot about the six films and when she understood that Yu Shaoqun, actor of young Mei Lanfang, was an actor of Yue Opera, she became so interested that she inquired about articulation in Yue Opera. Yu answered that it was a resonant in chest cavity, nasal cavity and part in between, which, according to Petra, was almost the same as in western opera.

On October 1, our film delegation arrived at Malmo, the third biggest city in Sweden. It was the first time that we had experienced National Day abroad, and we hardly expect grand celebration in songs and flowers as at home. However, we were walking down a street when we heard such familiar Chinese music and sound of drum and gong. Later we found out that it was overseas Chinese in Sweden that organized this celebration, in which some European people joined. Despite small size of dragon, through their sincere attitude and earnest look, we could feel vividly their loyalty and passionate love for motherland. This is our Chinese nation, and their common blood relationship preserves their invariable patriotic spirits for good wherever they travel. Moreover, when we witnessed many Swedish audiences enjoyed Chinese calligraphy in the hall of cinema, the permeated Chinese cultural atmosphere seemed to have brought us back home in that instant.

As Premier Zhou Enlai commented, film is an “Ambassador in Iron Box”, which once made a significant contribution to publicizing Chinese culture abroad. Even today when film market was considerably challenged by advanced media and Internet, most film makers in China, with their perseverant attitude in creation, are working hard to dedicate excellent films as best spiritual nourishment to Chinese people, many of which won awards on many international occasions as well. They will continue utmost efforts to promote Chinese films into the mainstream audience in more foreign countries, and despite some difficulty in reality, I firmly believe that it will turn out to be a great success.