The Canada China International Film Festival (CCIFF) (french: Festival international du film Canada Chine, ) is an annual film festival held primarily in

Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...

, Canada. The film festival is hosted by Canada China Art-Tech (CCAT), a non-profit organization, and is coordinated by mDreams Pictures Inc. CCIFF promotes the exchange between the Chinese and Canadian film culture, fosters cooperation, and encourages communication between artists and filmmakers. The festival is a platform for innovation and creation by showcasing the latest

entertainment technology Entertainment technology is the discipline of using manufactured or created components to enhance or make possible any sort of entertainment experience. Because entertainment categories are so broad, and because entertainment models the world in m ...

. CCIFF is officially acknowledged and supported by the following authorities:

China Film Administration The Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, also known as the Propaganda Department or Central Propaganda Department, is an internal division of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in charge of spreading Id ...

(previously as State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of The People’s Republic of China);

Telefilm Canada Telefilm Canada is a Crown corporation reporting to Canada's federal government through the Minister of Canadian Heritage. Headquartered in Montreal, Telefilm provides services to the Canadian audiovisual industry with four regional offices in V ...

; China Film Producers’ Association; China Film Group Corporation;

China Film Archive The China Film Archive (CFA) is a Chinese film archive located in Beijing that is owned and operated by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party. It was founded to preserve existing Chinese films and restore ‘lost’ films ...

; Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Canada; Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in Montreal; City Hall of Montreal;

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

; SODEC (Société de Développement des Entreprises Culturelles); QFTC (The Quebec Film and Television Council);

Concordia University Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...

, Shanghai International Film Festival Committee; Beijing International Film Festival Committee;

Beijing Normal University Beijing Normal University (BNU, ), colloquially known as Beishida (), is a public research university located in Beijing, China, with a strong emphasis on humanities and sciences. It is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in China ...

Documentary Center; Chinese Culture Translation and Studies Support, and others. The festival is run by Canada China Art-Tech (CCAT), a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and understanding cultural differences in the film industry between Canada and China. CCAT stimulates cultural dialogue between the two nations by connecting stakeholders in the fields of art, technology and digital interactive media in order to provide them with opportunities for collaboration abroad. CCAT works in

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...

augmented reality Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated content. The content can span multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. AR can be de ...

digital content Digital content is any content that exists in the form of digital data. Also known as digital media, digital content is stored on digital or analog storage in specific formats. Forms of digital content include information that is digitally broad ...

and new media entertainment.

Events

Seven sections are included in the festival every year: the Opening Ceremony, Film Screening and Competition, Women's Voice in Film and Television, Entertainment Technology Summit & B2B, Master Class, Academic Seminar, and the Gala and Awards Ceremony.

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony of the Canada China International Film festival is held in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

and

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

. Around 100 audiences and guests, including government officials, celebrities, directors and filmmakers from both Canada and China, attend the opening ceremony annually.

Film Screenings

In-person film screening are held for 3 consecutive days during the film festival in locations around Montreal including Cineplex, BanQ,

Cinémathèque québécoise The Cinémathèque québécoise is a film conservatory in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its purpose is to preserve, document, film and television footage and related documents and artifacts for future use by the public. The Cinémathèque's collectio ...

, Cinema Moderne, Cinema du Parc and Musee du Beaux Arts. Online film screenings are held for one month on the Smart Cinema platform. The festival screens 40 remarkable films with various genres of films and television shows including features, documentaries, short films and animated films.

Competition

The film competition section is one of the core programs of CCIFF. The Jury selects around 40 films in the Screening section from more than 100 submissions. About 30 films are selected to enter the final round of competition. The jury then determines 26 award winners at the final round as well as 4 TV awards.

Entertainment technology summit and B2B

The Entertainment Technology Forum is an important platform for technology exchanges and academic discussion in the film festival. The guests include executives and leaders from Cirque du Soleil, Disney, IBM, and Google. Like, Nasim Sedaghat (IBM Product Manager), Jacques Méthé (Chairman of Cirque du Soleil), Rajesh Sharma (Technical Director of Disney Animation Studios), and Paul Debevec (Senior Researcher from Google), etc.

History

In 2016,

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 20 ...

visited China on September 2. He wanted to make a stronger and more stable long-term relationship with China.

Bardish Chagger Bardish Chagger (born April 6, 1980) is a Canadian politician who served as a Cabinet minister from 2015 to 2021. A member of the Liberal Party, Chagger has sat in the House of Commons as the Member of Parliament for the riding of Waterloo si ...

announced new tourism initiatives. In 2016, CCIFF held several events in the special section to celebrate the China-Canada year of People-To-People and Culture Exchanges, including a summit forum on audiovisual exchanges and communication, a master class, and an industry tour. In 2017, CCIFF added TV Drama section to the Film Screening section. This year CCIFF celebrates Canada's 150th anniversary, Montreal's 375th anniversary, and the 70th anniversary of

People's Liberation Army of China The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...

. A script competition is also included in the Canada China Co-production Project Pitch. From September 22–26, 2018, the 3rd CCIFF was held by Canada China Art-Tech and mDreams Pictures in Montreal, Quebec. The festival attracted more people thanks to the year of Canada-China tourism in 2018. The aim of the international film festival is to promote the cultural exchanges between China and Canada, cooperation and communication are also want to be developed and encouraged by both countries. In addition, the newest innovations in

will be shown by forum and technology exhibition. The year 2019 was the 70th anniversary of the founding of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. On this occasion, the Canada China International Film Festival kicked off its 4th edition with the opening film "Enter the Forbidden City", directed by Mei Hu as well as other excellent Chinese world premieres during its screening program. In 2020, the 5th CCIFF was adjusted due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and was divided into two parts: The Entertainment Technology Summit and the Online Film Screening. From September 18 to December 18, 2020, three forum activities were successfully held online. The screening component was held from April 1 to 30, 2021 where a total of 10 films from China, Canada and the United States were screened. In 2021, the opening cocktail reception for the 6th edition of the CCIFF kicked off at

McCord Museum The McCord Stewart Museum (french: Musée McCord Stewart) is a public research and teaching museum dedicated to the preservation, study, diffusion, and appreciation of Canadian history. The museum, whose full name is McCord Museum of Canadian His ...

. CCIFF has been adjusted to a hybrid format consisting of offline and online events due to health and safety-related mandates brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, events were held offline and online throughout the festival, from October 2, 2021, to November 30, 2021. In addition, the screening month was held from October 22 to November 30, 2021, where a total of 23 films from China, Canada and the United States were shown.

Awards

Media coverage

The Canada China International Film Festival (CCIFF) has been featured in many national and international news outlets such as ''

Mtl Blog MTL Blog is a Montreal-based Digital Publisher founded in 2012 by Charles Lapointe and Joshua McRae and owned by Narcity Media. The site features local, provincial, and Canadian news and stories, and showcases activities to do in and around the c ...

'', The Montreal Times ''

Newswire A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and radio and television broadcasters. A news agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire, ...

'', ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'', ''

Global News Global News is the news and current affairs division of the Canadian Global Television Network. The network is owned by Corus Entertainment, which oversees all of the network's national news programming as well as local news on its 21 owned-and ...

'','' Timeout Market'',

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

Radio Canada The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

, and ''

Cult MTL ''Cult MTL'' is an English language arts, culture and news website and monthly print publication, based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its first print edition appeared on 7 September 2012. It was created only a few months after Montreal's last Engli ...

''.

References

External links

* * {{IMDb event, 0006043, CCIFF Asian-Canadian culture in Montreal Chinese-Canadian culture Film festivals in Montreal Chinese Canadian organizations