Focusing on a different country every year, the 20th Rendezvous Istanbul International Film Festival will be hosting Chinese cinema this year.

The film festival, held by the Turkish Cinema and Audiovisual Culture Foundation (TÜRSAK) with the support of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, will be organized between Dec. 1 and Dec. 7 with a special category titled "Look at China, See the World."

Arranged in cooperation with China Radio International (CRI), this category will bring together a selection of 10 new films that aim to reflect the variety in Chinese cinema today.

TÜRSAK wants to shine a light on the festival's biggest supporters and so after the 10 screenings, the film crews will get together with spectators.

The selection, comprising of mostly films produced in the last two years, gives the opportunity to see blockbuster films that were only shown to Chinese people along with films that represented China in world festivals last year.

The first Chinese animation that competed at the Berlin International Film Festival for the Golden Bear, "Hao Ji Le" ("Have a Nice Day") is a bright circle that has been added to the animation category in the Chinese cinema industry recently.

Director Vivian Qu, who creates deep characters and debuted with "Shuiyin Jie" ("Trap Street") four years ago, managed to shake people with her second film. Having won a Golden Orange at the 54th International Antalya Film Festival, her film "Angels Wear White" (Jia Nian Hu), will now be on shown for an Istanbul audience.

One of the most important works of the program is the documentary titled "China's Van Goghs." It tells the story of Dafen village, which turns into a center where imitations of renowned works in Western painting are produced, and a peasant-painter Zhao Xiaoyong, who wants to go to Holland to get to know Van Gogh better.

"Lu Guo Wei Lai" ("Walking Past the Future"), which focuses on the domestic migration in China over the story of the Yang family, is a drama that handles relations between generations strikingly. Creating a tremendous impression at the Un Certain Regard section of the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, the film looks at today's displeased Chinese youth with the theme of solitude, noncommunication, social media and welfare.

Giving the signals of being a promising director after his first film, Liu Fang presents a striking perspective on today's Chinese youth with "San Xian Hao Qing Nian" ("Good Old Days"), which had its world premiere at the 33rd Warsaw International Film Festival.

Zhang Dalei's film titled "Ba Yue" ("The Summer is Gone"), which was mentioned with respect at international festivals last year and won the first prize at the Taiwan Golden Horse Film Festival, brings viewers to Hohhot province in Mongolia where the director was born.

Focusing on how economic problems affect a family in the period of the privatizations in government enterprises in the 1990s, the film bagged the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) award in Taiwan.

Adapted from the short story of Dong Libu, "To Kill a Watermelon," is a destructive criticism by Chinese standards. It focuses on a watermelon booth, the seller, the seller's wife and other local characters. The film draws attention with its frankness in crime and justice and it is a work full of symbolism and reality from director Gao Zehao, who became famous with his first film "Witness" in 2012.

Having started her directing career in 2001, Emily Tang (Xiaobai Tang) took slow but steady steps. She gives an anguished perspective, mentioning female problems and China's lower and middle classes in her third film "All Apologies," which is a 2012 production. The film, which becomes poetical with the simple style of director of cinematography Lai Yiufai, is a very influential one in the selection.

Director Yuan Weidong waves hands to the young entrepreneurs in China, who idolize Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, with "Fu Zi Xiong Bing" ("Father and Son"), which is a typical example of Chinese popular comedy cinema.

Passing to directing from scriptwriting, Mei Feng attracted attention with his first film "Mr. No Problem," ("Bu Cheng Wen Ti De Wen Ti"), winning Best Screenplay and Best Actor awards at the Beijing International Film Festival this year.

Adapted from the short story published by Lao She in 1943, the black-and-white film tells the events that happened on a rich farm in Chongqing province, which stays unconcerned with the Japanese occupation.

Silk Road Meetings

Several events that aim to create both cultural and sectoral collaborations between Turkey and the focal country China will be held along with the film screenings as part of "Look at China, See the World" at the 20th Rendezvous Istanbul.

Panel Program

Panels on Chinese and Turkish cinema sectors, which will last for a day in cooperation with CRI and Bahçeşehir University, will be organized on Dec. 2 at Bahçeşehir University's Galata Campus under the presidency of screenwriter Tunca Aslan.

Chinese-Turkish Cinema Sectors

The current inclinations in Chinese and Turkish cinema, development plans in the sector, cinema in the Silk Road, Chinese and Turkish cultural bonds that come from the past and the collaboration opportunities for the future between the two countries will be discussed at the panel, where Chinese and Turkish speakers will attend, between 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.

Female Perspective

The current cinema productions and visions of female directors in both countries and the universe of filmmakers' productions will be discussed at this panel, where female directors, academics and cinema writers will participate between 1:30 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. One of the aims of this panel is to take the first step to create a communication space between the female filmmakers of the two countries.

New Generation Filmmakers

The new generation filmmakers' perspective on cinema, new inclinations and production opportunities, possibilities for collaborations and a communication space will be discussed at this session, which will be organized with the participation of young filmmakers from both countries between 3:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m.