Dutch film success in China through online film festival

Dutch films and documentaries have been distributed to audiences in China via online platforms through the 3 month long 'One Touch' Online Film Festival. The festival reached over one million viewers across China and was seen as a great success.

From April 24 to July 24, twenty Dutch films and documentaries, were available online on Youku and Tudou, 24 hours a day, free of charge. ‘One Touch’ the Netherlands online Film Festival reached over 1 million viewers and was a great success.

Audiences from major cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen to cities in Central and West China like Donguan, Wuhan and Zhengzhou, alone or with their friends and family logged in on our Youku/Tuduo websites and enjoyed the various movies, documentaries and children’s films. ‘One Touch’ incorporated features, documentaries and children’s films about various Dutch subjects like: Sinterklaas, football, fishing and dance music. It’s safe to say that ‘One Touch’ screened a film for everyone!

The Netherlands is famous for being innovative, creative and open-minded. All of this shines through Dutch films and documentaries and makes Dutch film different. However, not often the Chinese audience have an opportunity to watch Dutch films. Therefore the Netherlands Embassy in Beijing and Eye Film Institute decided to host a three months online film festival. ‘One Touch’ introduced great Dutch features and documentaries to the Chinese public through the internet platforms of Youku and Tudou.

Out of the 20 films and documentaries the Chinese audience selected “Heading West” and “Divine Pig” as the most popular feature and documentary of the ‘One Touch’ selection. “ Dutch films portray the fragility and beauty of our daily lives, of death, love and our human fascination with nature from an intriging and special ‘Dutch perspective’ according to comments of the Chinese public.

These last three months “Divine Pig” drew the attention of the Chinese audience. This documentary about the special bond between a butcher and his pig Dorus, about the special relationship we humans have with our animals and our food, created a lively online debate among the audience. Should the butcher have safed Dorus, should he have given in to his affection for the pig? Or are pigs just a source for our food and was the butcher right not to give in to emotions? These and more questions were raised by the public online and made the open-minded sensitive documentary “Divine Pig” the most popular documentary of the ‘One Touch’ Online Film Festival.

The 2013 ‘One Touch’ Online Film Festival was just the tip of the Dutch film iceberg. The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Eye Film Institute are proud to announce that a 2nd edition of the ‘One Touch’ Online Film Festival will bring more great Dutch films and documentaries to China in the future.