KATHMANDU, April 7 (Xinhua) -- The annual Chinese Film Festival started in Kathmandu on Friday.
Nepalese State Minister for Culture Parashuram Tamang, Chinese Ambassador Yu Hong, senior Nepalese government officials, diplomats, media persons among others attended the opening ceremony of the week-long film festival held at the Russian Culture Center in the Capital.
Addressing the function, Tamang said that Nepal and China have been enjoying a cordial relation for centuries adding that such kind of programs help further enhance the cultural and familial cooperation between the two countries.
While praising the progress made by China in the field of culture, the state minister said that Nepal can learn many things from Chinese experiences.
The state minister expressed gratitude to the Chinese government for extending support in preservation of cultural heritages in Nepal.
"I believe that this Chinese Film Festival will provide more information to the Nepalese people about the Chinese culture, society and film style," he added.
Chinese Ambassador Yu Hong said that peoples of both countries are more eager to deepen mutual understanding about each other's culture as bilateral relations between China and Nepal moved forward.
"Film exchanges are important parts of culture and educational exchanges," she said.
The ambassador said that the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu has held the Film Festival once a year since 2000 aiming to provide a channel for Nepalese people to understand Chinese culture through Chinese films.
"We are glad that Nepalese films began to take part in the Silk Road International Film Festival in China since 2014," she said.
"Some Nepalese films such as Bal Krishna Sam and The Necklace had won awards during the festival in that year which deepened the Chinese people's understanding of the Nepalese films and culture," she added.
The film festival will witness the screening of eight movies over the course of a week, President of the World Cultural Net, Dipak Sarkar, who is the main organizer, told Xinhua on Friday.
The inaugural ceremony was followed by the screening of the Chinese movie Hua Mulan on Friday. This movie was shot in 2009. It tells a widely known story in about 5th century's China, where a Chinese girl named Hua Mulan joins the military service replacing her ailing father. The movie had won the Best Feature and Best Actress of Hundreds Followers Awards of China in 2010.
According to the organizer, eight Chinese movies will be screened in various halls around the Kathmandu Valley hoping to reach to a wider audience.
