Creating synergy

Other coproductions at this year's festival include Cosmogonies and Metamorphoses, a play combining traditional Chinese shadow puppetry and contemporary French visual arts, and a dance choreographed by Chinese dancer Xiao Ke and French choreographer Jerome Bel.

Festival Croisements 2021 will introduce the fifth edition of La Fete des Bulles in response to a growing interest in comic books in China. Related events will begin in Beijing on May 29 and end in Shanghai on June 6, presenting comics and graphic novels from China and France, with illustrators signing their books and sharing experiences in creating them, as well as holding a workshop on comic translation.

The representative for the book event is illustrator Li Kunwu.

"It's common knowledge that many Chinese adults consider comics as an equivalent of children's books and find it difficult to take comics seriously. If bookshops have a special section for graphic novels, more people will know that they are in fact books that provide a visual experience, almost like watching films," Li says.

Fashion is a field that is being presented for the first time at Festival Croisements. A serial project, entitled Fashion Rendezvous, will be launched to promote emerging young designers who integrate art and sustainability into their designs. The Franco-Chinese Fashion Night will take place at the Sea World Culture and Art Center in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on May 9, presenting the fashion brands Sankuanz and Andrea Crews.

Representatives for this year's festival are Shangguan Zhe, the founder of Sankuanz, Chinese actress Tong Liya and actor Jin Dong.