娱乐英语新闻:First Singapore film festival officially starts with Chinese film

SINGAPORE, June 5 (Xinhua) -- The Media Development Authority of Singapore announced on Sunday that Singapore's first film festival, ScreenSingapore, starts from 5 to 12 June in its official launch media conference.

High-profile titans in the film industry around the world attended the conference which was held in the Sentosa's Capella Hotel. After the Red Carpet Gala Premiere in the Singapore's cinema Golden Village Vivocity, a Chinese film The Devil Inside Me will be presented as the special screening for the opening ceremony.

ScreenSingapore is not only a film festival to share ideas among filmmakers, but also a week-long business event for the international media players worldwide to explore business opportunities in this field of the world. It features a diverse program that caters to the different players from across the value chain which includes the financiers, studios, filmmakers, talents, distributors, exhibitors and audiences.

"As the most important growth area in the world of filmed entertainment, Asia-Pacific is gloriously on show during the inaugural ScreenSingapore," said Greg Coote, chairman of the Board of ScreenSingapore.

Jon Landau, chief operating officer of Lightstorm Entertainment and also the producer of Hollywood's famous films Avatar and Titanic, said that Singapore is a gateway for the communication of the culture between the West and East countries.

Shekhar Kapur, the member of Board of ScreenSingapore added that the growth of economy and cultural confidence in Asia, especially in China and India, will lead to the growth of creativity and a completely new kind of culture of cinema.

Vice President of Chinese Enlight Media, Xu Lin, attended the conference and expressed the hope to strengthen the cooperation between Chinese film industry and Singapore's or world's partners.

The famous Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi represented as the festival's ambassador to join the Opening Red Carpet Gala Premiere. Singapore's Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, Yaacob Ibrahim also attended the Opening Red Carpet Ceremony.

A co-located China Film Festival which will last five days in the Golden Village Vivocity will provide about five featured movies to both local and international audiences to understand the development of Chinese films.

Some 700 trade delegates have registered for the event. They will participate in professional workshops such as the three-day Expo@ScreenSingapore with 70 representatives from 14 exhibiting companies, and closed-door studio presentations by five major studios.