The year 2021 marks the 100th birthday of the late Mr. Sun Daolin, a performance artist who is loved and respected by the audience. From the drama stage to the movie screen, Mr. Sun has created a few classic roles in the hearts of several generations of the audience, such as Company Commander Li in Reconnaissance Across The Yangtze, who is both wise and brave, honest and elegant Gao Juexin in Family, Xiao Jianqiu in Early Spring, an intellectual with compassion, etc. Through his performance, each role seems to have its own life, which adds luster to films and shows his own thickness and depth.

 

Besides, Mr. Sun Daolin is also an excellent director who has left outstanding works of artistic value, such as Thunderstorm (1984). He once dubbed dozens of foreign films, such as Hamlet. Mr. Sun has made great contributions to China’s film undertakings in his whole life.

 

The Great Reunion, a film which will be screened in the “Tribute to Movie Stars” Section, is Sun's debut film after he shifted from the theatrical career to the film career. It is also a tragicomedy with the Beijing style which reflects the ups and downs and changes of an age through the reunion and separation of a family. The Beijing Film Panorama provides us a rare opportunity to watch this film of great artistic value on the big screen. 

 

 

Mr. Xu Caigen, an actor of the Shanghai Film Studio, passed away in July this year unfortunately. In almost 60 years after becoming an actor, Xu has been remembered by the audience with simple and down-to-earth characters, and his sincere and natural acting skills have also added true and amiable colors to every film. In 2011, thanks to his restraint and tolerant expression in Apart Together, Mr. Xu Caigen won the 28thGolden Rooster Awards for Best Supporting Actor. 

 

To cherish the memory of Xu, we will specially present Two Stage Sisters. In this literary film directed by Mr. Xie Jin, a prestigious director, Xu has made his character, a musical instrument master of the Yue Opera, more detailed and vivid with his superb acting. The film to be screened this time is a 2K restoration, hoping to help the audience review the classic and feel the charm of characters once again with this opportunity. 

 

 

The year 2021 also marks the 100th birthday of the late Grigoriy Chukhray, a Soviet director. The Forty-first and Ballad of a Soldier, two classic works of the film master, will be returned to the screen in the “Tribute to Movie Stars” Section of the 11th BJIFF. At that time, the audience can rediscover the charm of Soviet films at cinemas.

 

The Forty-first, the first feature film by Director Grigoriy Chukhray, is well-known for its film language of a unique style. The film breaks the general form of previous war movies, shifting from grand narration to the thinking of human nature. The version dubbed by the Shanghai Film Dubbing Studio has also made the film one of the most famous Soviet films in China. Ballad of a Soldier, another representative film of Chukhray, even shows the brilliance of poetry and humanitarianism everywhere. It reflects on the pain that war has brought to individual lives once again, and unleashes the power of emotions that has moved us into tears.

 

 

In July this year, Russian director Vladimir Menshov died of COVID-19 unfortunately. We lost another creative filmmaker in the pandemic. The “Tribute to Movie Stars” Section will present a representative film by Director Vladimir Menshov, Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears, a winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, to express our grief and respect. 

 

 

So, let’s follow the “Tribute to Movie Stars” Section to review these amazing films on the screen, and show our sincerest respect for those who have already left us.