Hainan film festival aims to foster exchange, showcase talent, and promote cooperation

The 6th Hainan Island International Film Festival aims to foster exchange, showcase talent, and promote cooperation among global film personalities and enthusiasts, according to a press conference held in the island city on Sunday.

"The influence of the film festival is increasing year by year. After we opened the registration this year, the registration was very enthusiastic. There are great breakthroughs in the age of applicants, the director's first work, the country of origin, the minority language, and the form of presentation," said Zhang Huawei, executive director of the Sanya Golden Coconut Film Co., the executive host of the film festival.

The film selection process began on July 4 and ended on September 20, receiving a total of 4,330 submissions from 117 countries and regions. There were 3,356 international films, accounting for 77.5 percent of the total.

The International Jury President for this film festival edition is renowned French director Luc Besson. Famous French actress Sophie Marceau has been specially invited to serve as the Image prolocutor, while renowned Chinese actor Ge You is the New Year Ambassador.

Main activities at the film festival include the "Golden Coconut Forum," which focuses on discussions of the new quality productive forces of China's film industry and the co-production of films at home and abroad, masterclasses, and the "Green Coconut Plan" investment and entrepreneurship training camp.

"This film festival launched the 'Green Coconut Plan' investment and entrepreneurship training camp for the first time to support short film creation and production by young directors. So far, all the eight finalists of the activities have completed their films and entered the post-production stage. The completed films will be screened during the film festival," said Chen Jiyang, executive deputy director of Publicity Department of Hainan Provincial Committee of Communist Party of China.

The main visual poster of the film festival was unveiled at the press conference, as well as the festival's theme "From Oceans, with Visions."

First held in 2018, the film festival is jointly hosted by the China Media Group and the Hainan provincial government. This year's event will open on the evening of Dec 6, and is scheduled to last until Dec 10.

Hainan film festival aims to foster exchange, showcase talent, and promote cooperation

The Hainan team swept both the men's and women's titles in the debuted coconut tree climbing competition at the China's biggest ethnic sports event on Sunday.

This outcome is unsurprising, given that the sport originated in the province as a common practice for picking coconuts.

Held in the city of Sanya, the 12th National Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities of China saw the debut of coconut tree climbing.

Participants are required to ascend a rather narrow-looking piece of timber in the quickest time and hit the button at the top. It is a race against time and a battle of techniques. And since this sport's most important apparatus is unique to Hainan Province, it is no wonder that the hosts are pretty good at it.

Luo Jun of the Li ethnic group won the men's title in a time of 6.188 seconds, and Fu Shijun, whose ethnicity is Han, won the women's title in 6.663 seconds. Both are from Hainan and delighted to have the chance to show their abilities in front of a home crowd and promote their sport.

"I'm definitely excited. It never occurred to me that I should win the title, but unexpectedly, I really made it. I'm very excited and thrilled. All of us in Hainan would climb up the three to pick coconuts if we want drink fresh coconut juice. Now thanks to the game, more has come to know the sport of coconut tree climbing, which is good to promote Hainan's traditional sports," said Luo.

"I'm a sprinter, and I believe my training has helped build my explosive power, which gives me an advantage in climbing. When I was younger, I always wanted to climb trees and pick coconuts to drink fresh coconut juice, but I didn't have the strength to do it. Now that I'm stronger, I decided to try the sport and fulfill that childhood dream. Winning the first-ever title at home feels incredible, especially because I can bring glory to Hainan," said Fu.

The National Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities, held every four years since its inception in 1953, is primarily focused on mass sports activities. Therefore, the participants are mainly non-professional athletes.

The event, which opened last Friday, will run until this coming Saturday.

Hainan sweeps men, women's titles in coconut tree climbing