By CCTV.com Panview editor team     

Editor‘s foreword: "Looking China" International Youth Film Project is co-organized by the Academy for International Communication of Chinese Culture (AICCC), Beijing Normal University and Huilin Foundation, which aims to showcase the contrasting simplicity and glamour, the antiquity and fashion of China through unique perspectives of young foreign film makers.

As of the year 2016, 101 students from 25 countries were invited to participate in the project. They were stationed in 13 municipality, provinces and autonomous regions here in China. Every filmmaker has worked out a 10-minute short film about Chinese culture around the topic of “ethnic minority”.

The film, Impression on Traditional Wedding, directed by Sofia Montes, follows two Yugu families living in China‘s northwest Gansu province who keep traditional ethnic-Yugu customs alive as a young bride and groom participate in a traditional wedding ceremony.

The young couple appear to be in the early to mid-twenties. They are both beautiful and handsome, but throughout the entire ceremony, which lasts for three days, neither the groom and bride are observed on film speaking.

The main actors appear to be the families, led by the parents. The parents take charge of activities and do most of the talking and celebrating. The newlywed couple look nervous, anyway, they might be just like what a Chinese joke goes: they are not experienced enough for this, since it’s the first time they got married.

In most countries, a wedding ceremony lasts for a day, no more than two, but for Yugu people, it goes on for much longer. Nevertheless, the wedding marks a milestone in the couple’s life.

The young couple in the film intends to celebrate another great wedding again. They will have one at a modern hotel in the local area with a modern feel.

The younger generation do appreciate our contemporary times, but they respect the ancient customs of their families as well.

(The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Panview or CCTV.com)

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