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International film week to be held in Ya'an
By Huang Zhiling (China Daily Sichuan Bureau)
Updated: 2009-07-13 16:54

The Second International Panda, Animal and Nature Film Week will be held in Ya’an, Sichuan Province, from August 19 to 25.

International film week to be held in Ya'an
A pregnant panda relaxes at the Bifengxia Base of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Ya'an./Huang Zhiling 

Ya'an mayor Liu Shoupei said the event will feature films from nine countries including France, New Zealand, Canada, the United States and Switzerland and a photo exhibition displaying animals and nature.

The film week, sponsored by the Ya'an municipal government and China Film Archive, will also include a forum featuring images of people, animals and nature.

Liu said the event is expected to boost the city's tourism sector.

International film week to be held in Ya'an
Chinese and foreign nationals at the film week's press conference in Chengdu, Sichuan Province./Gao Xiang. 

Ya'an is best known as the birthplace of tea, its large areas of dove trees and more importantly as Sichuan's giant panda habitat.

Hou Xiongfei, chief of the Sichuan provincial government's information office, said the city is the perfect location for the film week.

"The city's natural scenery and biodiversity is ideal for photographers and filmmakers," he said. In 1869, Armand David, French missionary, was the first European to discover the giant panda in Dengchigou, Ya'an, and introduce the animal to the West.

Currently there are around 300 pandas in Ya'an. After the May 12 Earthquake last year most pandas from the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda were transferred to its Bifengxia Base in Ya'an.

In July 2007, Ya'an held its first film week, which was planned to become an annual event. But the following year it was postponed by the devastating magnitude-8.0 quake.