West Lake festival celebrates global documentaries

An international lineup of documentaries, including A Fox Under a Pink Moon, Masayume, Guesthouse and Singing of the Evening Stars, won awards at the eighth West Lake International Documentary Festival, which recently concluded with an awards ceremony at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.

The festival was established to make scenic West Lake, a year-round tourist attraction, a venue for documentary screenings and exchanges among industry professionals.

Since its launch in 2017, the festival has received more than 3,600 submissions from around the world. It aims to keep documentaries alive as a window of discovery and to foster deeper, shared empathy for people whose lives are shaped by different social and cultural backgrounds.

This year, more than 50 documentaries were screened, including several making their Asian or China premieres. Post-screening discussions proved popular with audiences both in person and online.