China's first officially established festival dedicated to young filmmakers is under way in Ningbo, a port city in Zhejiang Province that has a fair claim to being the birthplace of Chinese cinema. Running from October 17 to 23, the 2026 Yangtze River Delta International Youth Film Festival is guided by the China Film Administration and co-hosted by China Media Group and the Zhejiang provincial government.

The programme follows a "2+5" structure: opening and closing ceremonies plus five sections — a Youth Film Project Market, the ninth China Film New Force Forum, a Film Panorama, a Theme Event and a series of "Movie+" activities. The forum tackles topics that sound ripped from any industry slack channel, from "Cinematic Perspectives in the AI Era" to "Film and a Changed Audience."

This year's headline theme is a China-Africa Youth Filmmakers Roundtable, marking 70 years of diplomatic relations between China and Africa. More than 100 young filmmakers, scholars and industry representatives from both sides are gathering in Ningbo to build bridges between China's film and television sector and the fast-growing African film market.

For visitors rather than industry insiders, the most accessible part is the Film Panorama: forty Chinese and international films screening 187 times across 20 cinemas in 10 cities throughout the Yangtze River Delta — so if you're travelling anywhere from Shanghai to Hangzhou this week, there's likely a festival screening within reach. The "Movie+" strand also blends screenings with technology, cultural tourism and consumer events.

Ningbo's claim as the "cradle of Chinese film" is more than a slogan. Ningbo-born filmmakers racked up nearly 50 national firsts: Zhang Shichuan directed China's first narrative short and first sound film and founded its first film school; Song of the Fishermen, shot in nearby Shipu, won China's first international film award; and later locals delivered New China's first colour features and the animated classic Nezha Conquers the Dragon King. Hsin-Yen Chang, also from Ningbo, directed The Shaolin Temple, the country's first martial arts film to gross 100 million yuan.

Today the city hosts over 5,000 film and television enterprises and pitches itself with the slogan that "the whole city is a set." For travellers, that makes late October a neat time to combine a Yangtze Delta trip with screenings, film-history sightseeing and a city most itineraries skip.