The opening ceremony of the 2024 GRIFF Industry on Nov 13. [Photo/Xiamen Daily]

As an important part of the 2024 China Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival held from Nov 13 to 16, the 2024 GRIFF Industry kicked off on the Nov 13 in the city of Xiamen, East China's Fujian province.

The opening ceremony, featuring the theme "high-level film event, high-level investment results", included project signings and showcased the recent achievements in investment attraction in Xiamen's cultural and film industry.

Successful results of project signings

The signing ceremony of the Xiamen cultural and film industry project. [Photo/Xiamen Daily]

The opening ceremony saw the signing of agreements for 175 cultural and film industry projects, with a total contract amount of 31.63 billion yuan ($4.36 billion). The projects cover a wide range of sectors including film, music, and copyright, and involve various areas such as the construction of the Xiamen Pop Culture Center, cultural globalization, and cross-Strait integration development.

The International Film and Television Copyright Service Platform was also launched, aiming to accelerate the globalization strategy of Chinese film and television intellectual property (IP), introduce internationally renowned film and television IP copyrights, and deepen international cultural exchanges and cooperation in the film and television industry.

During the film festival, the GRIFF Industry will hold 17 events in three sections: market promotion, market dialogue, and market screenings. Special events planned for this year include a special promotion session for Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, an international film and television IP promotion session, and an international film technology and film derivative development exchange session.

Leveraging the film festival for industry development

In recent years, Xiamen has prioritized the development and prosperity of the cultural industry. It continues to focus on showcasing a high-quality culture to build a new image of Xiamen as a "cultural center, city of arts, and island of music." 

In 2023, the total operating income of the cultural industry in Xiamen reached 228.66 billion yuan, with value-added accounting for approximately 5.4 percent of the city's GDP, making it a pillar industry. 

Since 2019 when Xiamen has been the host for the Golden Rooster Awards, the city has been utilizing the film festival to promote the rapid development of the film and television industry.

Driven by the film festival, Xiamen has attracted over 3,200 cultural and film companies and a large number of projects to the city, forming a relatively complete film and television industry chain.