Guangzhou intl documentary festival receives record entries

As of the end of August, a total of 4,239 documentaries from 113 countries and regions have been entered into the 2017 Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival (GZDOC 2017), a record high both in terms of the number of entries and participating countries.

Among the entries of GZDOC 2017, 2,328 of them are from overseas, with 214 entries from Spain alone, and a further 88 from Brazil and 85 from Argentina.

As China's longest-running international documentary festival, GZDOC 2017 was recently added to the list of Key Projects for National Cultural Exports. The list is issued by the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Culture and Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, with the aim of commending projects contributing to the export of Chinese culture.

Some entries of GZDOC 2017 have won awards at famous international film festivals already, such as Istiyad Ashbah directed by Raed Andoni which won the Glashütte Original Documentary Award at 2017 Berlin International Film Festival.

Those made in China are also highlights of GZDOC 2017, and include China's Van Goghs which depicts an intimate portrait of a peasant-turned oil painter transitioning from making copies of iconic Western paintings to creating his own authentic works of art.

During the GZDOC 2017, a total of 200 showings of high-quality documentaries will be made in cinemas and special documentary units of different categories will be organized including an international new focus documentaries unit, 4K documentaries unit and Fortune Global Forum 2017 special documentaries unit.