The 8^th Golden Tree International Documentary Film Festival was open in Club de l’Etoile, Paris at 18:00 Nov. 7, France time. This film festival lasts three days from November 7 to 9. 

 This year, GTIDFF has received 4325 documentaries from 142 countries, with 47 films being entered in the official selection, including “LAGUNARIA” by the Italian director Giovanni Pellegrini, “From Afar Every Mountain Range is Blue” by Brazilian director Neto Borges, “Maryam” by the Iranian director Elnaz Zhalehchin and “Guranay” by the Chinese director A Gu.

At the opening ceremony, Kim's Video directed by US directors Ashley Sabin and David Redmon. This documentary tells the overview of rare and esoteric films in the US through Kim's Video. Kim has a collection of 55,000 films, which is a great treasure for cinephiles. David Redmon and Ashley Sabin's playful documentary embraces various filmic forms, from cine-essay and investigative nonfiction to experimental cinema and even heist movies, to fashion an ode to the love of cinema and the enduring power its stories hold. 

After the opening ceremony, a wine party was held. The pre-selection jury, the final jury and filmmakers and investors as well as people from all trades in Paris presented in the party. 

Opening Speech

Dear distinguished guests and dear my friends:

Good evening, everyone!

Standing here again, I have a lot of feelings. 

On April 15, 2016, we held the press conference and the party for the first “Golden Tree International Documentary Film Festival” to come on the left side of Seine in Paris. Those friends gave us great supports and helps from the conception and the formation to the call for submissions of our Golden Tree International Documentary Film Festival. I believe they will still keep focusing on our Golden Tree International Documentary Film Festival in the Heaven. Thanks to everyone who has helped our Golden Tree International Documentary Film Festival. Thanks for your presence at our opening ceremony this evening. 

This is the 8^th edition of our Golden Tree International Documentary Film Festival. In this world of turbulence today, although in the disadvantaged economic situation, we still remember our mission that Golden Tree aims to attract the focus of global attention, and to present and spread a segment of real life rooted in a certain location, a certain time, or a certain culture from one continent to another with our camera, to explore the cultural origins of different civilizations around the world, and to build a platform for communication between the East and the West in the field of documentary for promoting exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations. 

Our film festival emphasizes the promotion of the documentaries highlighting the cultural roots in different reions and contexts. 

We will hold film competition, forum, round table meetings, film screenings, the union parlour for proposal submission and trading, and the awarding ceremony during this film festival. For the film competition being concerned by everyone, 4325 films from 142 countries or regions have participated in the race for the 6 prizes. The final award winners and the top 3 proposals will be announced on the evening of November 9^th.  

The forums in this year involves the topics like documentary production, artificial intelligence, documentary distribution and monetization in the digital age, field promotion and documentaries, the investment in commercial documentaries and the female issue in the film industry, to share the ideas and the latest documentary dynamics to the documentary practitioners.

During this film festival, a series of the best and the most expected works among the shortlisted documentaries are selected and will be screened in Le Grand Rex free of charge. We hope it will be a feast to the eyes and souls of the audience. 

Our Golden Tree International Documentary Film Festival is an important platform which gathers global elites in the documentary field and promotes cultural communication and cooperation. We are expecting that you come to witness this ceremonial event together with us.

Wang Libin,

President of Golden Tree International Documentary Film Festival

November 7, 2024