The Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival (GZDOC) opens in Guangzhou on Dec 10. [Photo by Zhong Xin/chinanews.com]

A total of 223 activities are expected to take place in Guangzhou during the ongoing Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival (GZDOC), which opened on Dec 10.

Consisting of 95 international professional forums and 128 public film panoramas, this year's event has attracted 695 organizations, as well as about 10,000 participants.

Fan Weiping, deputy director of the National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA), said that GZDOC has developed into an important platform for documentary film producers from home and abroad to communicate and cooperate since it was started 17 years ago.

Fan noted that the Chinese documentary industry is facing a prosperous future and that NRTA will offer more support to encourage and guide film producers to showcase an accurate, incisive, and comprehensive look at China in their documentaries. 

The Golden Kapok Award, which was established as a section of GZDOC in 2012, selects 12 prize winners after three rounds of selection every year. This year's competition has gathered 3,441 works from 130 countries and regions to compete in it.

As this year has seen the rapid development of internet technologies like artificial intelligence, 5G, and 4K, this year's event has also received 402 4K documentaries from home and abroad. 

Jules Oldroyd, senior vice president of National Geographic Global Programming, said that these new technologies are making things that used to be boring more interesting, letting viewers feel like they're part of the film that they're watching.

Documentary film producers from home and abroad communicate with each other during the event. [Photo/ycwb.com]