Chongqing- The 8th Chongqing Youth Film Festival (CQYFF) kicked off at Perfect World-Cinemas  Caixin Branch, Jiangbeizui, on October 24, 2021. Over the past eight years, the film festival has been dedicated to discovering young filmmakers and promoting high-quality film works, building a platform for mutual communication between young filmmakers and audiences at home and abroad.

This year, the film festival has set up a total of 14 units which can be divided into three sections, the screening unit, the competition unit, and events, presenting the diversity of films. Among them, the screening unit consists of 10 units, including Centennial Tide, Grandmaster Retrospective, Bashu Impression, and Asia Horizon, with more than 80 outstanding films to be screened. In the competition unit, those feature films and short films selected for the competition will be shown separately, which will eventually compete for three feature film awards and 11 short film awards under the judgment of the professional jury. The events are composed of three themed forums, Directors' Salon, Judge Forum, and Open Course on Film, in which Gordon Chan, Lik-Chi Lee, and other filmmakers will share their film experience. And Hao Lei serves as the Ambassador of CQYFF this year.

At the opening ceremony of CQYFF, the authorities delivered speeches at the opening ceremony. They pointed out that in the post-pandemic era, the film festival had adopted the combination of online and offline activities. Looking forward, mutual communication in films can be continuously promoted, and "Chinese story" can be spread to more people and further places through CQYFF. CQYFF, which had developed from universities, would continue to help young talents better realize their film dreams, provide the film market with more diversified creative choices, and bring the audiences a film feast with more artistic pursuits and humanitarian sentiments. 

This year's CQYFF paid special attention to "The Quintessence of Latin America" feature screening unit, diplomats from Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, and Hungary, etc., also introduced their unique and rich film aesthetics.

Larrisa Costa, Head of the Cultural Section of the Embassy of the Federative Republic of Brazil, delivered a speech on behalf of the Embassy of Brazil. She recalled film festivals in Brazil in 2019 and said she was very glad to bring Brazilian films to Chongqing again this year. She hoped that audiences could better understand the local custom of Brazil and the Brazilian film industry through cinema.

Melisa Murcia Pabón, Second Secretary of the Embassy of the Republic of Colombia, delivered a speech on behalf of the Colombian Embassy. She hoped that the film would open up the gate to Colombia's natural and cultural landmarks, bring Latin American culture to Chongqing, and promote a lasting friendship between the two sides.

Tania Lara, director of culture and media of the Embassy of the United Mexican States, delivered a speech on behalf of the Embassy of the United Mexican States. She particularly mentioned that the film The Flying Pony would be screened at this film festival, which would symbolize Mexico's first cultural exchange event in Chongqing. The film displays unique Mexican landscapes, folk art, and rural life. She hoped the audience would enjoy it.

Mercedes Aguiar, First Secretary of the Embassy of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, delivered a speech on behalf of the Uruguayan Embassy. She shared the extraordinary association between Uruguayan films and CQYFF and introduced three Uruguayan films for screening. She believed that the cooperation between two sides in culture would be a great gain, expecting that there would be more opportunities for face-to-face communication and mutual visits in the post-epidemic era.

The 8th CQYFF will be held from October 24 to October 30, 2021. In the next six days, there will be more than 80 films and three academic events. The online reservation channel for free movies has been opened. The city of  Chongqing expects everyone to join the annual film feast.