Chongqing – On July 11, the “Bridge of the Future·Meeting the Youth in Chongqing” 2025 China-U.S. Young Filmmakers Exchange Event concluded successfully in Chongqing’s Yongchuan District, marking a significant milestone in cultural and artistic exchanges between the two nations.

The eight-day event brought together 30 young filmmakers – 15 from China and 15 from the U.S. – including students from prestigious institutions like New York University and Chapman University, as well as emerging directors, producers, and cinematographers. Notably, 13 American participants visited China for the first time. 

The program featured roundtable discussions, cultural visits to Chongqing University, the Chongqing Planning Exhibition Hall, and the Stilwell Museum, and culminated in the challenging “72-Hour Film Challenge”, where mixed teams produced five short films in Chongqing within 72 hours.

The films, created under tight deadlines, showcased diverse storytelling with Chongqing as their shared backdrop. Silkworm explored sisterhood through a vertical-screen format; Remember the Future poetically visualized harmony between humanity and nature; The Path to Enlightenment used ancient aesthetics to convey Zen philosophy; To Move Again reflected on WWII history through a curator’s personal journey; and All Is Well documented a female delivery rider’s urban struggles.

Blaine Fuller, an American director from New York, stressed himself as a big fan of Chinese film directors such as Bi Gan and Jia Zhang Ke who influenced his filmmaking. Alli Gooch, the cinematographer of Silkworm, was amazed by how their story relates to the city, “Our story core is about family, and it is something really apparent here in the city through the architecture and the culture.”

The initiative of this event strengthened artistic ties and friendships between the two countries while creating lasting friendships. As Alli noted, “Film is our universal language.”