New for the Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF) which is going into its tenth year in 2020, Chinese Opera Film Section marks an innovative beginning from the perspective of the history of film development. It is the opera film Dingjun Mountain that announced the birth of the first Chinese opera film. For more than two centuries, Chinese opera films have been going hand in hand with feature films. The new Chinese Opera Film Section features Chinese opera films specific to China, the only film genre in the world, and recommends them to countries in the world through a platform like the BJIFF. By integrating hi-tech means for filmmaking with the splendid traditional opera culture, the quintessence of Chinese culture, an increasing number of Chinese opera films will be screened, promoted and spread in the vast rural mountainous areas and remote areas across China. The new Chinese Opera Film Section will make its debut at the BJIFF which has now been held for ten consecutive years, which contains far-reaching significance and a bright future. This is a perfect example of cultural innovation in the new era!

　　As the golden autumn arrives in August, the 10th BJIFF and the 5th China Drama Film Summit & Panorama form a matrix to explore how cinema circuits in rural and urban areas move forward in groups in terms of distribution of Chinese opera films. Through the production, screening and distribution of Chinese opera films all in one, it is hoped that the united front can step forward hand in hand to achieve the integration and seek greater development of Chinese opera films in the future.

　　Chinese opera is a crucial vessel to express and inherit fine traditional Chinese culture, with unique charm and a solid mass base. Excellent traditional culture serves the purpose of the root and soul of the Chinese nation. Chinese opera films are especially popular among the middle-aged and elderly audiences in the community. In an increasingly aging society, the scale of the elderly care ecosystem absorbed and gathered in urban communities continues to expand, and the cultural demand for watching Chinese opera films is on the rise as well. The public welfare undertaking has been increasingly significant in strategic sense. The Guidelines of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Promoting the Flourishing of Socialist Literature and Art clearly pointed out that we must persist in lowering the center of gravity, strengthen the construction of the literature and art battlefield, and construct and use theaters, cinemas, cultural centers (stations), mass art centers, fine art galleries, workers’ cultural palaces, cultural squares, comprehensive grass-roots cultural service centers and other such literature and art battlefields well. The State Council document, Several Policies on Supporting the Inheritance and Development of Traditional Chinese Opera, clearly stated that we encourage film distribution and projection agencies to provide convenience for the distribution and projection of Chinese opera films. The mission of the new era promotes Chinese opera films to get closer to the communities, while charting the course for Chinese opera films. We stand ready to make efforts to promote the dissemination of Chinese opera films.

　　Wish the Chinese Opera Film Section a complete success!