The FIRST international film festival and its operation under the COVID-19 pandemic: an interview with Wen Song and Yinglong Tong

ABSTRACT Held annually during late July in Xi’ning in northwest China, the FIRST International Film Festival (hereafter FIRST) is an exhibition event and cultivation platform for new emerging Chinese filmmakers developing at home and expanding overseas visibility. It is probably the only festival in the country that persevered with offline activities over three years from 2020 to 2022, during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Conducted in July 2022, this interview focuses upon Mr. Wen Song and Mr. Yinglong Tong, the founder and the Head of Publicity of the festival, respectively. It contains three parts and through these conversations, readers can learn about the festival’s core tenets and industry positioning, the impact of the pandemic on the festival’s programmes and on its operation. More important, this primary information reveals how Chinese film festivals in general and FIRST in particular survived and sustained itself in the pandemic period (2020) and the post-pandemic period (after 2020). It offers a lens through which readers can see the cultural landscape of the Chinese film industry in this uncertain period.