NEW DELHI: India is currently studying the possibility of a mechanism to ensure commercial release of Indian feature films in China and vice versa.

This was indicated by Information and Broadcasting ministry secretary Asha Swarup at the inauguration of a festival of Chinese films at the Sirifort Auditorium.

Swarup said that discussions had been held on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this connection.

Chinese ambassador to India Zhang Yan, who inaugurated the festival, referred to ancient ties between the two countries and the affinity in arts and culture including cinema.

Nine latest Chinese films including one based in Tibet are being screened in a reciprocal festival of films from China. Organised by the Directorate of Film Festivals, in collaboration with the China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) and the Chinese Embassy, the festival opened with the spectacular Gun of Mercy by Xiao Feng who was present along with principal actress Jiang Wu.

A high-level Chinese delegation is here to attend the festival, led by SARFT director general Tong Gang. Other members, besides Feng and Wu, include Luan Guochi who is director of the SARFT’s International Cooperation in the Film Bureau, film director Zhang Jianya and actress Liu Yiwel of the film Call for Love, China Movie Channel CCTV-6 VP Lu Hongshi, and SARFT Digital Film Programme deputy director general Mao Yu.

Gang told indiantelevision.com that his government wanted more films from India on a reciprocal basis, since some Indian films shown two or three decades earlier had proved very popular in his country.

Directorate of Film Festivals director Neelam Kapur said a festival of Indian films had been held in Beijing and Shanghai about 18 months earlier.

Apart from Gun of Mercy and Call for Love, the other films being screened are Fearless (Ronny Yu), The Banquet (Feng Xiaogang), Courthouse on the Horseback (Liu Jie), The Silent Holy Stones (Wanma Caidan from Tibet), A World without Thieves (Feng Xiaogang), Honeymoon (Chen Jun) and Perhaps Love (Peter Ho-Sun Chan).