On October 20, The First Sichuan Animated Drama Industry Innovation Partner Conference was held in Chengdu. The conference was guided by the Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and the Sichuan Provincial Radio and Television Administration, and hosted by the Sichuan Daily Press Group and the People’s Government of Jinjiang District, Chengdu.

The conference brought together more than 200 representatives from universities and research institutes, the literary creation community, online audiovisual platforms, science and innovation enterprises, as well as government departments and integrated media centers from 21 cities (prefectures) across Sichuan.

Focusing on chapters such as “Dream Building,” “Laying the Foundation,” “Empowerment,” “Breaking Boundaries,” and “Setting Sail,” the conference carried out a series of activities including signing and licensing, project releases, platform launches, and park unveilings around such directions as AI-generated animated drama park development, IP incubation, industrial implementation, talent cultivation, cultural and tourism integration, and international communication. It built a collaborative development platform for Sichuan’s AI-generated animated drama industry and embarked on a new journey for the development of the industry in Sichuan.

In recent years, Sichuan has seized industry development opportunities, continued to deeply cultivate the online audiovisual sector, and focused on building platforms, issuing policies, nurturing entities, and promoting global expansion, accelerating the rise of the animated drama and micro-short drama industries, with a solid industrial foundation and abundant innovation vitality. In the track of micro-short dramas and AI-generated animated drama series going global, Sichuan has achieved remarkable results. Its works have covered more than 50 countries and regions worldwide, with cumulative reach of over 800 million overseas audience visits, and the international influence of Bashu audiovisual IP continues to rise. 

The industry has now bid farewell to extensive quantitative growth and formally entered a new stage of high-quality development focused on quality, IP, and operations.

At the conference, Cai Yujie, Dean of the New York Film Academy at Sichuan University of Media and Communications, delivered a keynote sharing session, systematically elaborating on new pathways for cultivating international media talent in the context of AI-generated animated drama series going global. He stated that AI-generated animated drama series have opened a window for Sichuan to go global, and that universities are willing to use dual-campus training channels as a link to work with all industry parties to transform Sichuan’s cultural resources into expressions that the world can understand and see.

To promote premium AI-generated animated drama series going global, the conference announced overseas market promotion partners and launched the "Zongmu" Global Call for Outstanding AI-Generated Animated Drama Series, bringing together professional forces to select outstanding premium animated drama series, while concurrently carrying out work seminars, promotion of selected works, and overseas screenings. With animated drama as our eyes, we survey the world and pool global creative forces.

As a representative of these efforts, the teaser for The Last Oracle, co-produced by Sichuan International Communication Center and the New York Film Academy of Sichuan University of Media and Communications, was officially unveiled, exploring new possibilities for ancient Shu civilization to go global through AIGC short dramas.

The "Zongmu" Global Call for Outstanding AI-Generated Animated Drama Series will be interconnected with the Western International AI-Generated Animated Drama Industrial Park and the Sichuan AI-Generated Animated Drama Industry Alliance, forming a three-in-one industrial closed loop of carrier, organization, and works. Selected works will, on the one hand, be matched with production, technology, and distribution resources by the park and the industry alliance; on the other hand, they will be promoted to overseas platforms and channels through the overseas distribution consortium.

Three thousand years ago, the bronze mask with protruding eyes of Sanxingdui captured the gaze of the ancient Shu people as they looked out at the world; three thousand years later, AI technology enables every pair of eyes to become a window to the world. In the name of Zongmu, we gather global wisdom so that the world can understand Sichuan through AI-generated animated drama series.