LOS ANGELES, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- The 15th Chinese American Film Festival (CAFF) and the Chinese American Television Festival (CATF) kicked off Tuesday at the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills in Los Angeles County, California.
Hundreds of films and television works from both countries will be unveiled at the festival and around 100 of them will be screened in mainstream theaters in Los Angeles, San Francisco and other cities in the United States.
"The Chinese American Film Festival and the Chinese American TV Festival is dedicated to planting the evergreens of China-U.S. cultural mutual understanding and dialogue," said James Su, chairman of CAFF and CATF and president of Edi Media Inc. in his speech at the opening ceremony.
"After 15 years of hard work, with the support of friends from China and the United States, I hope that the sapling of this humanistic exchange can thrive and become a towering tree calling for friendship and peace," he added.
Zhang Ping, consul general of China in Los Angeles, pointed out that the event has become an important platform for exchange and cooperation between the film and TV industries of China and the United States, noting that it plays an important role in promoting emotional connection and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.
"China and the United States are both big countries in film and TV industries. We need to strengthen our cooperation. We already have a lot of experience and successes in our cooperation," he said, adding that there is a bright prospect for the future cooperation between Chinese and U.S. film and TV industries.
"Speaking for 10,000 members of the Writers Guild, I'd like to say we are pleased and proud to be part of this event," said Bob Underwood, foreign task force member, Writers Guild of America, in his speech.
"It was actually in China that people first began to write down stories and share them with an audience 3,000 years ago. And now we are able to tell stories together on giant screens with surround sound for the whole world to enjoy. I look forward to making products together that we can share and enjoy for each other," he said.
A total of 10 films won Golden Angel Award at the event, including "The Wandering Earth," "The Climbers," and "The Composer."
Chinese box office hit "The Captain" won the top prize of the night, the Best Film, while "Avengers: Endgame," "Aquaman," "Venom," "Bumblebee," and "Captain Marvel" won the award of the Most Popular U.S. Film in China.
Founded in 2005 by EDI Media Inc., the festival is a cultural event to promote film and television industry exchanges and cooperation between China and the United States and to enhance the influence and visibility of China's outstanding film and television works in international markets.
