The Chinese equivalent of Hollywood film bigwigs are expected in Dunedin for the first official China Film Festival.
The city was chosen due to its sister-city relationship with Shanghai, and had attracted big names to the festival, which begins Friday.
Confirmed delegates include Teng Junjie, director of the festival's opening night movie Farewell My Concubine, and editor-in-chief of the Shanghai Media Group – one of China's largest media and cultural companies.
Chinese executives from major film and media corporations will also be in Dunedin for the festival, which has attracted New Zealand Film Commission support with film makers from around the country expected to attend.
Antony Deaker, of the Dunedin City Council, said the Chinese delegation was the equivalent of Hollywood executives coming to town.
Those delegates would be taken from Dunedin's historic railway station to the seaside township of Waitati, where they would be welcomed with a kapa haka performance by local school children.
Later they would head to Orokonui Ecosanctuary for a taste of New Zealand nature, he said.
"We're going to have fun with them."
That night the festival's launch would be held at the city's Regent Theatre, with Farewell My Concubine to be shown in 3D.
The festival was a partnership with the New Zealand Film Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade's Shanghai office and the Shanghai Art Film Festival and the Dunedin City Council.