The 2017 Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival China ended on Thursday night after record sales worth more than 519 million yuan ($79.85 million) were secured.

This indicates Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival China is speeding up its pace to become a major international event and integrate into the world’s documentary film trading market, organizers said.

The event, which opened on Tuesday, has become a platform for promoting cultural exchanges and cooperation, helping domestic cultural companies go global and expanding sales of domestic documentary films abroad, according to organizers.

Tian Jin, deputy director of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, urged documentary filmmakers to become good recorders of the new era and to spare no effort to produce more high-quality documentary films that reflect the development of the country after the reform and opening-up policies were introduced in the late 1970s.

“The central government would continue to expand investment and introduce more preferential policies to encourage and support the development of the country’s documentary film industry in the coming years,” he said.

More than 740 documentary filmmakers and companies from home and abroad attended this year’s event.

It is the 15th year the southern metropolis has hosted the international documentary festival.

In addition to showcasing documentary films from home and abroad, trade, seminars, forums, lectures and training have also been organized in the past three days.

The annual event is jointly organized by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television and Guangdong provincial government.