Chinese-made films performed well in the box office last week. (Photo : Getty Images)
Because local dialects are still spoken in China's towns and rural villages, the organizer of the first dialect film festival in the country deems it fit that the event should be hosted in Zurong Village in Guangdong Province. The Zurong Dialect Film Festival aims to highlight local culture and conventions.
Across China, it is standard Chinese, or Putonghua, that is spoken mostly in cities and urban places. Despite the prevalence of that language, dialects in the northern regions are well preserved compared to dialects in the southern region because the northern dialects are easier to be understood even by Putonghua speakers, noted Globaltimes.
Like other dialects spoken by minorities in other parts of the world, these dialects are fading and mostly it is members of the older generation who are attached to those tongues. But speaking these dialects, or even hearing actors mouth the tongues, allows Chinese from these areas to be in touch with their roots, said Chen Yu, sponsor of the festival.
Among the movies to be shown are "Mr. Six," a critically acclaimed film that uses the Beijing dialect, "A Fool" which uses a Northwest China dialect and "The Verse of Us," a documentary on the lives of migrant workers that features their dialects. Other films included in the festival are "The Story of Qiu Ju" and TV series such as "My Own Swordsman" that uses the Shaanxi dialect and "Loquacious Zhang Damin's Happy Life" that uses Tianjin dialect.
The producer of the docu, Qin Xiaoyu, is the president of the Zurong Dialect Film Festival. He said at a press conference promoting the festival, "In this era, we have actually turned into a new generation of nomads who have drifted away and gradually forgot the voices of our hometowns."
Qin was referring to the mass migration to cities from provinces that results in the younger generation forgetting their dialects in favor of Putonghua.
According to Shenzhen Daily, the film festival would run from January through August, and would be held at the historic Changgong Bookstore. At the end of August, the festival would close with awarding ceremonies for best film, director, scriptwriter, actor, actress, documentary, media and original soundtrack.
