After a five-day span, the 9th Ya'an Panda & Nature Film Week held in the 
Chinese city of Ya'an of Sichuan Province concluded on November 10th. The Film 
Week revolved around themes such as "animal and nature," "ecology and 
environment protection" and "greenness and economy," and hosted numerous 
activities such as film solicitation and selection, film screening, film 
sharing and meeting with directors, the "Giant Panda from Ya'an to the World" 
Children Painting and Artwork Exhibition, and giant panda art display, among 
others.

This year's Film Week aimed to construct a platform of global exchanges about 
nature film culture, and provide exposure to outstanding ecology-themed films 
and talents from China and elsewhere around the world to boost the growth of 
the Chinese eco-film industry. The Ya'an Municipal People's Government, the 
host of the event, hopes to capitalize on the Film Week and the power of movies 
to awaken and strengthen the public's awareness of environment and ecology.

This year's Film Week hosted in Ya'an solicited from around the world film 
works that centered on ecology and environment protection themes such as animal 
protection, environment of the Earth, rainforest ecology, and the world of wild 
animals. A total of 1,735 films from 109 countries and regions across the globe 
were submitted, and after comprehensive selection, a group of 42 outstanding 
works were chosen, which were screened and opened to the public for free in 
designated theaters in Ya'an during the course of the Film Week.

In recent years, Ya'an has leveraged on its multitude of natural resources and 
advantage in biodiversity to earnestly promote the movie production base 
construction and film industry development. On October 24th, the China 
Federation of Radio and Television Associations named Ya'an as a "Designated 
National Filming Location", including sites such as the Bifeng Gorge Scenic 
Area, Shangli Ancient Town, Mengding Mountain Scenic Area, China's Most 
Beautiful Tea Plantation Greenway, Yunfeng Mountain, Hanyuan Lake, Jin Si Nan 
Shui Street, Laba River, Shenmulei and Anshunchang. The unique natural scenery 
here has won over the film crews and creative minds of many productions, which 
is why Ya'an is often seen as the backdrop in quite a number of well-known 
movie and television productions.

In addition, Ya'an is also famous as the location of the discovery, naming, and 
type specimen creation of the first giant panda, as well as home to China's 
largest giant panda artificial breeding base. Among the 24 giant pandas that 
China have gifted to nine countries and regions, 18 have come from Ya'an. 
During the span of this Film Week, an exclusive exhibition zone was specially 
set up for Xiang Xiang, the giant panda that has returned from its stay in 
Japan. Through photos, story behind the growth of the "Xiang Xiang" family was 
depicted, while showcasing Ya'an as the "home to the giant pandas".

The Ya'an Panda & Nature Film Week has thus far been held nine times, and is 
gradually emerging as an animal-, nature- and environment protection-themed 
movie week with a certain degree of clout in China and even across Asia.

Source: Ya'an Municipal People's Government