Fán Huā bloom Questa riva, L’altra riva

Feb 19
3 min read

From February 25 to March 1, 2026

Cineteca Milano Arlecchino

Via San Pietro all’Orto 9, Milan

Milan is hosting Questa riva, l'altra riva – Cinema e cultura cinese a Milano, a festival dedicated to contemporary and arthouse Chinese cinema, scheduled from February 25 to March 1, 2026, at Cineteca Milano Arlecchino. The initiative offers a cinematic and cultural journey through more than thirty years of film production, bringing together established auteurs and new voices in Chinese cinema.

The festival is organized with the support and collaboration of Zhong Art International (ZAI). The initiative is held under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture - Directorate-General for Cinema and Audiovisual (MIC), the Lombardy Region, the Municipality of Milan, the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in Milan, the Italian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, the Confucius Institute in Milan, the Chinese Community in Milan, and the Italy-China Association.

Special thanks go to Micromedia Communication Italy, Chinese Headline New Media, and European Chinese News for their media support, as well as to Dasio Travel for their support and collaboration.

The festival is part of a long-standing collaboration between the FánHuā Association and Cineteca Milano. The FánHuā Chinese Film Festival has been running in Milan since 2021, establishing itself as one of the first structured initiatives dedicated to promoting Chinese cinema in the Lombard capital. Starting in 2022, the Festival began an ongoing collaboration with Cineteca Milano, giving rise over the years to festivals, special screenings, and moments of cultural exchange between Italy and China. This shore, the other shore represents a new stage in this shared journey, consolidating a cultural partnership that finds one of its points of reference in the Arlecchino cinema.

This is not a festival in the traditional sense, but rather a complex cultural project that combines film screenings with opportunities for discussion and in-depth analysis, with the aim of offering the Italian public a multifaceted view of contemporary Chinese society, history, and transformations. The initiative also has the support of the Ideo Club cultural association for communication activities aimed at the Chinese community in Milan.

The festival presents eleven titles produced between 1992 and 2025, many of which have been selected and presented at major international festivals. The program includes works by leading directors from Chinese cinema and the Sinophone world, such as John Woo, Wong Kar-wai, Jia Zhangke, Peter Chan, and Bi Gan, alongside more recent films that address themes related to identity, historical memory, human relationships, and social change.

The inauguration is scheduled for Wednesday, February 25, at 7:00 p.m., with a welcome reception and aperitif, followed by the inaugural screening. In the following days, the public will be able to enjoy a varied program ranging from urban melodrama to action cinema, from intimate stories to historical narratives, to works with a strong visionary and experimental approach.

Through this journey, Questa riva, l'altra riva aims to strengthen the role of cinema as a tool for cultural dialogue and mutual understanding, helping to build an ideal bridge between Italy and China in the cultural context of Milan.