Restored Chinese films shine with new vitality

Shanghai (CNS) – Three films from the golden era of Chinese cinema in the 1930s and 1940s were screened at a press conference in Shanghai on Monday.

The films included "A Spring River Flows East," "Eight Thousand Li of Cloud and Moon" and "Crossroads." They are among the first restorations initiated last year by the Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF), which is scheduled to be held this June.

According to Tang Lijun, executive deputy secretary of the SIFF, the festival is pushing forward the restoration of old domestic films not only to keep them in good condition, but also to bring new life to the artistic works and present them to audiences in China and other countries.

International experts forecast that there will be no more projected films in cinemas by 2013, said Sun Xianghui, deputy director of the China Film Archive Library, which means a large number of old films will not make it to the big screen unless they are transferred to digital form.

Currently, at least 20,000 old Chinese films are in urgent need of repair, and government funding is far from enough, added Tang.