The Opening Ceremony of the 7th Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF), hosted by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People's Republic of China and People's Government of Beijing Municipality, and organized by Film Bureau of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People's Republic of China, China Radio International (CRI), Beijing Municipal Bureau of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, Huairou District People's Government of Beijing Municipality, Beijing TV Station (BTV) and China Film Studio Co., Ltd., was held in the State Production Base of China Film Group in Huairou District on the evening of April 16. The Opening Ceremony explored the soul of film and Beijing deeply, and presents the audience affectionate dialogue between time-honored Beijing and film legends across time and space.
At the Opening Ceremony, Nie Chenxi, Vice Minister of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Minister of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People's Republic of China, Minister of the National Copyright Administration of the People's Republic of China, and Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the 7th BJIFF, delivered an enthusiastic speech. Cai Qi, Deputy Secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, Mayor of Beijing, and Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the 7th BJIFF, declared the opening of the 7th BJIFF. Leaders who were present at the Opening Ceremony in the evening include Li Wei (Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress and Executive Vice Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the 7th BJIFF), Jing Junhai (Vice Minister of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee), Tong Gang (Member of the Party Leadership Group and Vice Minister of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People's Republic of China, and Executive Vice Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the 7th BJIFF), Zhang Hongsen (Member of the Party Leadership Group of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People's Republic of China, Director-General of the Film Bureau of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People's Republic of China, and Vice Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the 7th BJIFF), Wang Gengnian (Member of the Party Leadership Group of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People's Republic of China, President of China Radio International, and Executive Vice Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the 7th BJIFF), Wang Ning (Vice Mayor of Beijing and Executive Vice Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the 7th BJIFF), and Li Wei (Secretary-General of the People's Government of Beijing Municipality), etc.
The number 7 has special meanings in both Eastern and Western cultures. BJIFF, which is now in its 7th year, has become a great event with high profile in the international filmdom. It has not only provided a grand platform of exchange for filmmaking masters across the world, but also become a sacred place for the world's film enthusiasts to watch films, showing the great influence and appeal of Beijing as the capital of culture and innovation.
Under such background, this year's Opening Ceremony abandoned traditional ways, added film theme sentiments and ideas to the splendid and professional film feast, and presented the audience an evening gala with "film feelings, Beijing style, Chinese style, and global vision".
Global filmmakers shined at the Red Carpet
The star-studded Opening Ceremony was presided over by Chunni, hostess of Beijing TV Station and Lan Yu, hostess of CCTV Movie Channel. and David Wu as the special guest host. At the Red Carpet, world-renowned stars and filmmakers added splendors to the Opening Ceremony. At the Opening Ceremony, Danish director Bille August, winner of two awards of Golden Palm at Cannes Film Festival and one Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the Jury President of Tiantan Award, Hong Kong director Mabel Cheung, famous Italian director Paolo Del Brocco, Chinese actress Jiang Wenli, Romanian director Radu Jude, American director Rob Minkoff, and French actor Jean Renomade a grand appearance, showing the high standards of the jury.
In addition, world-leading filmmakers like Serbian director Emir Kusturica, Indian director and actor Aamir Khan, and Taiwan director Sylvia Chang also attended the grand event.
Catering to the robust development of Chinese films, lots of influential crews made a splendid appearance at the Red Carpet for the Opening Ceremony, including La Peikang, Han Sanping, Jiang Ping, Yu Dong, Liu Weiqiang, Huang Jianxin, Liu Ye and Zhu Yawen from Founding of the Army; Dany Boon from Raid Dingue; Aaron Kwok, Lin Chi-ling, William Feng (Feng Shaofeng), Zaninla Zhao (Zhao Liying) and Xiaoshenyang (Shen He) from The Monkey King 3; Jiro Wang from Pit Father Game; Benny Chan from Meow; Zhang Jiarui, Shawn Dou (Dou Xiao), Janine Chang and Wu Gang from Youth Dinner; Crystal Liu (Liu Yifei) from The Chinese Widow; Jean Lau and Jiang Yiyan from Dealer Healer; crews from The Chinese Orphan, Mu Guiying Assuming Command, The Story of the Jade Bracelet, The Mirror of Fortune and Xie Yaohuan; Raman Hui from Monster Hunt 2; Vivian Chen, Kingdom Yuen and Yuen Wah from My Kitchen Lover; Sylvia Chang, Tian Zhuangzhaung and Sitar Tan (Tan Weiwei) from Love Education; Zhu Zhu from Yak Butter; Liu Yiwei, Xiaoshenyang (Shen He) from Really?; Ian Somerhalder from The Vampire Diaries; Jiang Yiyan from The Seventy-Seven Days; Aamir Khan from Dangal; Liu Peiqi and Cao Yunjin from D-War; Pan Changjiang from A Journey for Love; Vincent Zhao (Zhao Wenzhuo) from God of War; Darren Wang and Crystal Zhang (Zhang Tianai) from Legend of the Naga Pearls; Zhang Bin and Han Qiaosheng from Who is the King; and crews from Come Across Love, Please Please Please, Trouble Maker, Crazy Arts, Family Day, and The Big Rescue, etc.
In the meantime, the 15 films from 19 countries and regions shortlisted for Tiantan Award were also highlighted at the Opening Ceremony and earned a wide acclaim for their remarkable ideological, artistic and commercial value in consistence with the prominence of Beijing International Film Festival.
More originalities in show than ever before to take the film festival ever further
Beijing International Film Festival is an art platform that advocates the core value idea of “Beauty in Variety, Harmony in Diversity”. The time Beijing joins hands with film or thousand-year-old ancient city meets century-old art, it is doomed to create wonderfulness that stuns the world across time and space. How to outpace previous opening ceremonies by creating a brand new audio-visual extravaganza means a suspense film fans highly anticipate unraveling other than a test for directors of the Opening Ceremony. The programs of the Opening Ceremony featured four transcendences and innovations, bringing a great surprise to global audiences.
The first is New Perspective. The reason that film has become a great art form is not only due to ambilight on screen, but also dependency on “Master, Mass, Market” behind the screen. Based on the purpose of “Master, Mass, Market”, this year’s Opening Ceremony adds whole new expression sections such as “Tribute to Masters” and “Live Connection with the Audience in Cinemas” with the design of “moving” and “amazing” features, aiming to manifest the unique perspective and depth of creativity of BJIFF.
The second is New Atmosphere. All performances and expression sections kept to the point of films and highlighted the integration and inclusion of “Beijing Charisma” into the on-site audio-visual atmosphere, amid a dynamic video background incorporating “Beijing’s new landmark buildings with Beijing’s intangible cultural heritages”, hence presenting a vivid and smooth transitional session of the ceremony. The innovation was well received by the audience and netizens during the live streaming of the ceremony.
The third is New Temperature Sensation. Warmth is what this year’s Opening Ceremony brought to the audience in the most intuitive manner, be it on the scene or on screen. The people-oriented warmth design is just like a gentle life-giving spring breeze in Beijing in April, sweeping the hearts of people.
The fourth is New Ways. Beijing International Film Festival represents not only a hilarity at the site of the Opening Ceremony, but also a festival of the capital Beijing. During the live broadcast of the Opening Ceremony, under the directing team's arrangement, hot film list of all cinemas in Beijing and online interviews with audience in cinemas at the same time on the day were broadcasted. Besides, in cooperation with new media, an atmosphere of constant interaction and whole-city participation was created.
Crossover stars sing for youth
Songs & dances performed by stars showed the youth and fashion of Beijing. Traey Miley (Guan Xiaotong), a native young actress joined hands with a Norwegian new popular band to bring the audience a medley of energetic film theme songs, including “Little Luck” for Our Times, “Kung Fu Fighting” for Kung Fu Panda 3, and self-titled theme song “Comrades: Almost a Love Story”. Such a crossover combination was full of freshness, let alone the energetic performance bringing the house down. This fully embodies exchange and dialogue between Chinese and foreign cultures, while at the same time playing the joyous atmosphere to the hilt.
Well-known Chinese singer Sitar Tan (Tan Weiwei) sang a romantic song called "Blossoming Flowers on the Pathway". One notable aspect is that the song is the theme song of Love Education, a new film directed by Sylvia Chang to be released this June. The performance aimed to present the film to the world for the first time through the stage of BJIFF. The name of the song is closely aligned with the beautiful spring of Beijing, where flowers are in full bloom and film fans worldwide are welcomed to the grand event.
Directorial debut selected as opening film in support of new Chinese filmmakers
At the Opening Ceremony, This Is Not What I Expected was introduced as the opening film of the 7th BJIFF. This is the first time that the debut film of a director has been selected as the opening film, showing the festival's strong support to new Chinese filmmakers.
Supervised by Peter Chan and Jojo Hui, directed by Derek Hui, starring Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhou Dongyu, Sun Yizhou and Xi Mengyao, This Is Not What I Expected tells a fantastic love story of a man (played by Takeshi Kaneshiro) and a woman (played by Zhou Dongyu) brought together by food. The Film Panorama of BJIFF 2017 opened with the film on April 8, receiving strong response and high praise from the audience, and drawing great attention from the Organizing Committee which decided to select it as the opening film of BJIFF 2017 from numerous outstanding new Chinese and foreign films, recommend it to a wider audience, and encourage China's film industry to pay attention to quality and produce more fine films.
BJIFF 2017 kicks off, great concentration of masterpieces shows new look of films
As the core of BJIFF, Tiantan Award has inherited the core values of "Beauty in Variety, Harmony in Diversity", and upheld the purport of "Sharing the Screen, Shaping the Future". BJIFF 2017 stuck to the orientation and goal of Tiantan Award, invited world masters as judges, continued and enhanced its great reputation and brand influence in the industry, brought the work of award review to a new level, and expressed the good wish of Beijing's films and Chinese films to communicate with films across the world, achieve mutual benefit and jointly promote the harmonious development of film industries of the world.
The 15 outstanding films shortlisted for Tiantan Award stood out of 424 entries from 59 countries and regions on six continents through five rounds of selection. With rich subjects, diverse types and distinctive styles, they show the highest level of world films and the uniqueness of BJIFF. They filled the audience with the expectation of the winners of Tiantan Award.
The Opening Gala of BJIFF marks the beginning of BJIFF 2017. Next, Tiantan Award 2017 will enter the review stage. Who will be the winners is the biggest concern of fans across the world. Events during BJIFF 2017, such as Sino-Foreign Film Co-production Forum, China Film Distribution Summit, International Digital Cinema Technology Forum, Summit on the Beauty of Film, Focus on Italy Section and Documentary Section, will make Beijing a real city of light and shadow in April. In this pleasant April, Beijing once again sends an invitation to global filmmakers once again--Welcome to Beijing to watch the best films in spring.
Released on:April 16，2017