ABUJA, July 3 (Xinhua) -- The first Asian film festival in Nigeria opened in the capital Abuja on Monday, with an aim of promoting interaction between Nigeria's film industry, the largest in Africa, and its Asian peers.
The five-day festival, organized by the Asian Cultural Committee, was also put together to exhibit the culture of the various Asian countries through movies.
Ten Asian countries, including China, Pakistan, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines and Iran, participated in the film festival.
Opening the festival, held at the China Cultural Center in Abuja, Zhou Pingjian, Chinese Ambassador in Nigeria, said the film festival was a very good start to promote the Nigerian movie industry, also called Nollywood, in Asia.
"Nollywood is a famous brand in Nigeria, in Africa and in the world," Zhou said. "A very diversified Asia is showing its film industry to Nigeria and we believe that Nigeria will communicate very well with the Asian film industry."
The Chinese envoy told the audience, among whom were Asian diplomats, Nigerian officials, local and international filmmakers and film enthusiasts, that he had full confidence that the China-Nigeria cooperation and Asia-Nigeria cooperation will get a boost even in the area of filmmaking.
The colorful festival opened with the screening of Chinese and Nigerian movies.
Throughout the festival, each participating country will screen a movie to showcase its art, people, and culture. Artworks depicting the participating countries' cultures were also on display.
