It's an early treat to moviegoers who eagerly await the celebration of the Chinese of its definition of what spring is--everything that is color green, connotative of vegetation and regeneration and a lot more of sprouting etc.
Thus, the Spring Film Festival is a season of hope and altruism.
What a way as well to usher in, in a few days' time, Chinese New Year.
2024 in the Chinese calendar is the Year of the Wooden Dragon, very apt as a description of a Chinese thought--spring is also a “green dragon.”
That is why during the launch and opening program of the 18th Spring Film Festival at the Atrium of Shangri-La Plaza, there were traditional lion and dragon dances provided by the Tongsan Lion and Dragon Dance Group.
It was also the time to once again pay homage to the founding of the Ricardo Leong Center for Chinese Studies housed at the Ateneo de Manila University in Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City.
The Center is a living testament of the ties that bind between the Philippines and China.
Established in 2005, the Center objectifies, according to its brochure, "to help the Filipino youth understand and appreciate China in all her aspects, including culture, history, politics, business and economics, so as to be able to engage China in a constructive way."
During the launch, Dr. Czarina Saloma Akpedonu, Dean of the School of Social Sciences of the Ateneo thanked the Center for invigorating the studies of Chinese life in the academe.
Prominent personalities from the Fil-Chinese community were around, like Teresita Ang-See.
After the program, the guests were invited to come up to the Red Carpet Cinema of Shangri-La Plaza to watch the opening film: "The Captain," a 2019 blockbuster hit in China that was based on a real-life incident in 2018 when a pilot was forced to land his plane after the cockpit windshield shattered in flight.
For the SFF, films are vehicles to reflect on universality and understand human behavior.
SFF runs from January 23 to 30, 2024 with several important Chinese films to savor. Admission is free.
Photo Caption: Guests and organizers of the 18th Spring Film Festival (Photo by Boy Villasanta)
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