🎤 In Conversation with Ruoruo Wan – CICC

Established 35 years ago, Sunny Side of the Doc has grown into an internationally recognized documentary festival, annually attracting global producers, broadcasters, and distributors. It serves as a vital platform for Sino-French and cross-regional cooperation while showcasing diverse projects and exerting substantial global influence. Through its China Pavilion, Chinese institutions present documentary proposals to pursue international partnerships, advancing cultural exchange. For its 2025 edition, SSD will launch Sunny Academy to expand such collaboration beyond the festival itself.

In recent years, film and media sectors have evolved rapidly, with documentaries exploring new narrative approaches to attract wider audiences. China Intercontinental Communication Center (CICC) shares Chinese stories globally through an international perspective. We experiment with filming/narrative techniques while enhancing program influence via social media and online/offline activities. These innovations are showcased in CICC’s recent works like Missions to the Moon, Masters' Arts and Dunhuang: Edge of the World. We anticipate integrating more innovative, engaging methods in future programs.

Artificial intelligence is playing an increasingly important role in the documentary industry and will be central to the discussions at this year’s event. How do you view its place in documentary storytelling today?

AI has brought unprecedented opportunities and transformative changes to the documentary field and the broader media industry alike. In terms of production, technological innovations can significantly enhance workflow efficiency, particularly aiding in areas like special effects production while reducing cost. Regarding distribution, AI-powered tools enable analysis of themes, target audiences, and communication channels to optimize content dissemination. However, it must be recognized that AI remains merely an auxiliary instrument incapable of replacing authentic, human creation. Production teams must rigorously scrutinize and verify AI-generated content to prevent potential issues related to copyright and authenticity.

This theme of this year is “New Routes to Storytelling”. Under this theme, we aim to continue advancing international co-productions and distribution partnerships, integrating cross-cultural perspectives to create more compelling documentary content. We also hope to jointly explore the challenges and transformations brought by emerging technologies with multiple collaborators, enabling AI and related innovations to better serve content creation. Meanwhile, we plan to engage with our colleagues across the world to develop new cooperation models in financing, joint production, and copyright partnerships.