VENICE, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- The fruitful exchange in terms of artistic and production cooperation in cinema was a focus of an ad-hoc dialogue among professionals and experts at a recent event of "Focus on China" in the ongoing 76th Venice Film Festival. Hosted by Italian National Association of Film, Audiovisual, and Multimedia Industries (ANICA), and organized by Xinhuanet, the debate was one of several sessions comprised in the fourth consecutive edition of "Focus on China", aimed at boosting Sino-Italian exchanges in the industry.

At the dialogue held on Aug. 30, the head of ANICA International Department Roberto Stabile confirmed it was "indeed crucial to create opportunities for creative professionals from Italy and China to meet."

"Within ANICA's internationalization project, we are trying to develop a specific fund to support the possible exchange of creative talents," Stabile said.

"In our next mission in China, it might be already possible for us to bring along not only producers, but also directors and playwrights in order for them to meet Chinese colleagues and create stories together." He went on.

Among various speakers was Chinese director Fan Haolun. While describing his experience and projects, Fan confirmed he was keen to find an opportunity to co-produce with international partners, adding as an example that he had been mulling the idea of co-producing a film on the life of the Chinese living in Italy.

Associate Professor Qu Liping of the Shanghai Film Academy stressed that offering chances of international exchanges and inter-cultural projects was a crucial feature in the education of their students.

"We are especially engaged in offering this kind of opportunity to young directors," Qu told the audience.

"From this point of view, since several years we have been inviting young foreign directors to come to Shanghai and produce together with their Chinese counterparts."

"This is also one way to show the way of life of Shanghai, from different perspectives," the professor added.

In a short interview on the sidelines of the event, Qu further explained the Academy's Chinese students were also offered the chance to meet with major foreign professionals.

"We have invited several directors to the school, to communicate with students and mentor them, including one that has won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film," she told Xinhua.

"By doing this, we can allow our students to be engaged in different styles of audio-visual art creation."

Also speaking to Xinhua at the end of the dialogue, ANICA's Stabile made a positive evaluation of the cooperation efforts so far with and on China.

"The 'Focus on China' at Venice FF is like a showcase of the 'China Project' being carried on by ANICA on behalf of Italy's Directorate-General for Cinema of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Ministry of Economic Development, and results so far are positive," Stabile said.

"Co-productions have been substantially boosted, and we currently have four new projects in the pipeline."

"In terms of promoting Italian movies in China, results are also very good."

"When the China Project was launched (2013), there were on average seven Italian films sold on the Chinese market per year; this number doubled in the following year ... and last year, the Italian movies sold there have been 67, considering theaters, TVs, and multimedia audio-visual channels," Stabile said.

"Besides, with the help and support of the Chinese government, we were able to have the movie 'Perfect Strangers' (by Paolo Genovese) released in the Chinese theaters, and the film ranked fifth in the Chinese box office."