The Festival, established in 2014, is a comprehensive international film festival that implements China’s Belt and Road Initiative. It aims to use films as a bridge to inherit the spirit of the Silk Road, promote Silk Road culture, enhance people-to-people connectivity and cultural exchanges among countries and regions along the "Belt and Road", build an international platform for the exchange and cooperation of Chinese and world films, and promote the prosperous development of the Chinese film industry. As a key part of the Silk Road Film and Television Project, it is hosted alternately by Shaanxi and Fujian provinces each year.
