China Film Week held at Tokyo Int'l Film Festival

TOKYO, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- The China Film Week of the 38th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) has concluded, with the Golden Crane Awards ceremony being held here on Tuesday.

Chinese and Japanese guests and film industry figures at the event highly praised the development and influence of Chinese films in recent years and expressed their anticipation for future cooperation between the film industries of the two countries.

As part of the festival, the China Film Week was held in Tokyo from Oct. 21-28. Over 10 outstanding Chinese films were screened during the event, covering a variety of themes including family, love, fantasy and history.

The crime thriller Octopus with Broken Arms won the Golden Crane Award for the best film, while Andrew Lau Wai-Keung snatched the best director award for his film The Dumpling Queen. Actor Zhang Yixing and actress Zeng Mengxue won the best actor and actress awards for their performances in Mumu and Love List, respectively.

Chinese ambassador to Japan Wu Jianghao said at the closing ceremony that films play an important role in enhancing mutual understanding between the people of the two countries and in fostering exchanges and reconciliation, adding that the efforts made by filmmakers from both countries for this purpose over the years are truly admirable.

Japanese director Yojiro Takita told Xinhua that the rapid development of Chinese cinema in recent years has attracted an increasing number of talented individuals. He expressed the hope that filmmakers from both Japan and China will maintain close exchanges and establish a mechanism for cross-border collaboration and mutual sharing.

Mitsuko Watanabe, vice-president of the Japan-China Film Festival Executive Committee, told Xinhua that Chinese films have made amazing progress in "touching people's hearts" and she looks forward to filmmakers from both countries collaborating with a more open mind to jointly create works that play to their respective strengths.

The 38th Tokyo International Film Festival runs from Oct. 27 to Nov. 5.