The 19th China (Guangzhou) International Documentary Film Festival (hereinafter referred to as Documentary Film Festival), sponsored by the National Radio and Television Administration and the People’s Government of Guangdong Province, opened online on April 15. Leaders including  Xiaowei Yang（Deputy Director General of the National Radio and Television Administration） Ruisheng Xu（Vice Governor of Guangdong Province）and Yonghang Guo（Mayor of Guangzhou）attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches, while Xiaoyi Liu（Director of Guangdong Provincial Radio and Television Bureau） presided over the opening ceremony.

At the opening ceremony, Xiaowei Yang, deputy director of the National Radio and Television Administration, said that after nearly 20 years of hard work, the festival has become the largest professional documentary film festival in Asia, an annual cultural event with wide influence in the world, and an important cultural window for the world to see China and China to see the world. The documentary film has important cultural, artistic, social and communication values, and is a veritable "image of the times".

We hope that all parties will take the opportunity to implement the Opinions of the National Radio and Television Administration on Promoting the High-Quality Development of Documentary Films in the New Era, and jointly magnify the effect of the policy to promote Chinese documentaries to create new performance, achieve new development and present a new image.

We advocate that documentary workers focus on the theme of the times, sing the melody of progress, strive to "find the right topic, tell a good story, and produce high-quality products", establish a biography for the times, sing for the people, and show a vivid and three-dimensional China for the world; adhere to the righteous innovation, improve the quality of content, actively embrace the latest technology applications, and effectively expand the subject matter, content, form, and methods of documentaries.

The festival should actively support and encourage international exchange and cooperation, encourage Chinese and foreign co-production of excellent documentaries that promote the common values of all mankind and reflect the exchange and mutual appreciation of civilizations, support the festival to adhere to the direction of professionalism and internationalization as always, and continuously expand the scale, active trade, improve the efficiency and shine the brand, so that more documentary films can be produced.

We support the festival to adhere to the direction of professionalism and internationalization, continue to expand the scale, activate the trade, enhance the efficiency, and polish the brand, so that more excellent works can go global.

Ruisheng Xu, vice governor of Guangdong Province, said in his speech that in recent years, Guangdong has thoroughly implemented the decisions and plans of General Secretary Xi Jinping and the Party Central Committee, vigorously promoted the construction of a strong cultural province, and used the documentary film festival as an important tool to promote the high-quality development of cultural industries. 

The festival has been successfully held for 18 times, and has become an important platform for promoting international exchanges and cooperation in documentary film, promoting national culture and demonstrating cultural self-confidence. 2021, the Guangdong Provincial Government and the National Radio and Television Administration have included the festival in the provincial-ministry cooperation agreement, which has given a strong impetus to the high-quality development of the festival. 

This year, the festival will launch the "Guangdong Story" short documentary incubation project, which will collect short documentary filming proposals to record Guangdong's story, promote the excellent Lingnan culture, let the world better understand Guangdong and China, and invite all circles to use the festival as a platform to jointly promote the development of the documentary industry and create a "China highland" for international exchange and cooperation in documentary. 

We invite all sectors to use the festival as a platform to jointly promote the development of the documentary industry and create a "Chinese highland" for international exchange and cooperation.

Mayor Yonghang Guo said he would make efforts to strengthen the industry platform of "Guangzhou Documentary Film Festival", build a platform for documentary video aggregation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area, improve the service system of film and television industry, support the high-quality development of documentary films, and promote the complementary and mutual promotion of "going global" and "bringing in".

The festival was organized by the Guangzhou Municipal People's Government and the Guangdong Provincial Radio and Television Bureau, executed by the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film and Television Administration, and operated by Guangzhou Global Ruidu Culture Communication Co.
A total of 3,670 documentaries from 125 countries and areas were invited to participate in the festival, a record number of films in the competition.
The festival is a record-breaking event, with platforms such as Audio-Visual China and Youku cooperating with the festival. The festival activities were broadcasted online, including: the opening ceremony, the Golden Kapok documentary sharing session, the "China Stories" international proposal conference, the industry forum, and the film screening, etc., which supported the audience to watch online.