The award ceremony of the first Chinese Theatrical Film Festival takes place in Xiangshan, Zhejiang province on Aug 17. [Photo/ daily.cnnb.com.cn]

The first Chinese Theatrical Film Festival opened in Xiangshan, East China's Zhejiang province on Aug 16. The three-day festival gathered more than 200 experts to discuss the development of Chinese theatrical films.

Sponsored by China Film Association, Zhejiang Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles and People's Government of Xiangshan County, the festival includes the summit forum, the communication and cooperation promotion seminar and the award ceremony for Chinese theatrical film workers to help them communicate with each other. The platform is created for the development and spreading of specialized Chinese theatrical films.

At the summit forum and the seminar, experts including the researcher of Chinese National Academy of Arts Gao Xiaojian, and the first-degree state screenwriter Han Zhijun expressed their opinions on the future direction of Chinese theatrical films.

The festival climaxed with an award ceremony. Yueju Opera film "Tang Wan and Lu You", a bitter love story; Xiju Opera film the "Pearl Tower", a love story around the treasure, won the top two awards at the event.

As gems of Chinese culture, traditional opera has achieved considerable development in Xiangshan. Yin Ruifang, the old generation representative of Yueju Opera; Dong Kedi, the winner of the 17th Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Prize are all from Xiangshan's folk troupes. Currently, there are more than 20 traditional opera folk troupes in Xiangshan.