2 November 2025
Marking the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and the European Union, the 7th EU–China Film Festival was successfully held from 17 to 26 October 2025 in Brussels, Belgium, and Paris, France. The festival was organized by the EU–China Film Festival Organizing Committee and co-organized by the Communication University of China and the Nouvelles d’Europe Cultural Media Group, among other partners. The event received wide media coverage from outlets including Xinhua News Agency, People’s Daily, China Daily, and Nouvelles d’Europe.
Faculty members and students from the School of Television, Communication University of China, participated extensively in the festival’s activities. Xu Yuyun, a 2023 cohort Master’s student in International Journalism and Communication, who took part in the production of China Momentum in Europe and witnessed the film receiving an award, reflected that “despite differences in language and culture, the aspiration for beauty and the pursuit of cooperation and mutual benefit are shared human emotions. We should use the camera to capture more meaningful encounters in international communication.”
After volunteering at the festival, Wang Xinyang, a 2024 graduate student in International Journalism, remarked that “seeing outstanding Chinese audiovisual works reach the ‘heart of Europe’ allowed me to truly experience the power of images to cross borders, and strengthened my determination to present a richer and more engaging image of China to the world.”
▲ Festival promotional poster
On 17 October, the 7th EU–China Film Festival officially opened at Cinéma Aventure in Brussels. Filmmakers, representatives of cultural institutions, scholars, and audiences from China and multiple European countries gathered to begin a dialogue that transcended language and culture. Under the theme “Seeing Each Other Through Images,” the festival presented a wide-ranging program including the opening ceremony, a Chinese Film Showcase, a special focus on filmmaker Qiao Mei, a Chinese Classic Animation Retrospective, the Meet China International Communication Program, and the Meet Youth exchange program for young filmmakers and secondary school students. The screenings covered contemporary Chinese cinema, classic animation, and director-focused presentations, offering a multifaceted exploration of social realities, inner worlds, and temporal dimensions, and highlighting the depth and diversity of contemporary Chinese moving-image practices.
▲ Representative films from the main screening sections
On the afternoon of 18 October, the Meet China International Communication Program was held at the China Cultural Center in Brussels. Guests included representatives from the Chinese Embassy in Belgium, Gong Yi, Director of the China Cultural Center in Brussels, Hu Fang, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Journalism and Communication at the Communication University of China, Zhong Cheng, President of the Nouvelles d’Europe Cultural Media Group, and French director Gilles Thompson, among other Chinese and European guests.
Students from the School of Television—including Huang Ruisi, Chen Chen, and Xu Yuyun (Class of 2023, International Journalism and Communication), Wang Xinyang, Zou Mi, and Cai Yilin (Class of 2024, International Journalism), as well as Wu Yuchun (Broadcasting and Television Studies)—participated in the Brussels and Paris programs as creators and volunteers, contributing to screenings, award ceremonies, and professional exchanges.
▲ Guests and audience at the Meet China International Communication Program
During the Meet China award ceremony in Brussels on 18 October, the EU–China Visual Communication Award and the EU–China Cultural Exchange Contribution Award were presented. Organizations and individuals from Xinhua News Agency Europe Regional Bureau, China Global Television Network (CGTN), China Daily, and the Communication University of China were among the award recipients.
Notably, China Momentum in Europe, produced by Xinhua News Agency Europe Regional Bureau with in-depth participation from Huang Ruisi, Chen Chen, and Xu Yuyun, received the EU–China Visual Communication Award (Short Video Category). The film tells the story of renewed momentum in civilizational exchange and connectivity as China and the EU mark 50 years of diplomatic relations.
The event also featured screenings of outstanding works such as Lighting Up Ali: An Engineer’s Diary (a nominated work for the Second “Silk Road Award” for International Communication organized by the Belt and Road News Cooperation Alliance), Encounters with China: Xixi Wetland, and A Belgian Geologist in China.
Following the event, Gong Yi and Hu Fang met with volunteer students Wang Xinyang, Zou Mi, Cai Yilin, and Wu Yuchun for an exchange and group photo. The four students were undertaking a one-year government-sponsored exchange program in Belgium under the China Scholarship Council’s Innovative Talent International Cooperation Program. During the festival, they applied their professional skills and enthusiasm to audience coordination, screening assistance, and the organization of cultural dialogue sessions, making a meaningful contribution to EU–China cultural exchange and the festival’s international communication efforts.
French screenwriter Nastasia Pradelle and Peter O’Brien, journalist with France 24, joined discussions themed “Seeing Each Other Through Images,” addressing narrative strategies in cross-cultural audiovisual communication, how Chinese stories resonate internationally, the visual construction of “real China,” and diverse representations of urban identity.
At the Paris event on 25 October, Zhong Cheng noted in his remarks that Chinese audiovisual works present a diverse, nuanced, and dynamic China to European audiences through sincere perspectives, and that the festival’s core value lies in bringing people from different cultural backgrounds together to listen, reflect, and engage. Hu Fang emphasized that the screened works vividly illustrated multi-sector cooperation between China and Europe over the past 50 years, reaffirming the role of moving images as a bridge for cultural exchange.
Volunteers from the 2024 International Journalism cohort with Professor Hu Fang
The Paris screenings included Encounters with China: Xixi Wetland, Lighting Up Ali: An Engineer’s Diary, and A Belgian Geologist in China. Among them, Encounters with China: Xixi Wetland, co-produced by China Daily New Media Center and the School of Television, Communication University of China, received strong positive responses from French audiences.
Humanities researcher Youssef Bouchiba was particularly impressed by the metaphor comparing wetlands to “the kidneys of the Earth,” reflecting China’s ecological protection理念, while civil engineering student Fadoua Hafaf was deeply moved by the resilience and dedication of Chinese engineers portrayed in Lighting Up Ali: An Engineer’s Diary.
Following the screenings, professional dialogue sessions with Nastasia Pradelle and Peter O’Brien explored topics such as international narrative strategies for Chinese stories and the visual construction of contemporary China, generating lively and in-depth discussion among participants.