The Dong Film Fest is the first Italian festival dedicated to emerging and independent Chinese film, that took place at the Cinema Massimo in Turin from 4 to 6 November 2016.
The festival aims to raise awareness, in Turin and Piedmont, about the Chinese culture through cinema and to create a fertile ground on which to build the foundations for a closer cooperation with China, starting from the film production. The ultimate goal is to consolidate a common universal sense of identity.
The project was promoted by Associazione Culturale Dong, in partnership with the European Research Institute – who took part to the design and worked on the communication of the event – Angi (Italian-Chinese New Generation Association), the Communication University of Shanxi (CUSX), Cinema Massimo, the DAMS, the Oriental Art Museum, the National Museum of Cinema in Turin and the social cooperative Kalata.
The Dong Film Fest also enjoys the support of: City of Turin, Piedmont Region, Film Commission Torino – Piemonte and Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti in Turin.
The festival showed for the first time the five first works made by independent Chinese directors, as well as five short films, four of which were made by the Communication University of Shanxi students.
The event held in November represents only the first part of a broader international project aimed to create a virtuous circle in which the exchange of views between Italy and China, between West and East, can help to understand each other’s cultures. The Dong Film Fest will have an edition in China in spring 2017, first in the Shanxi region, the cradle of ancient Chinese culture, at the Communication University of Shanxi, Taiyuan – one of the most important and forefront university campuses in China – and then in Shanghai. The aim is to introduce teachers and students works that tell Italy and at the same time are an expression of the creative ferment that is animating the national stage.