Four awards were unveiled. Wangdrak's Rain Boots picked the honor of Most Highlighted Screenwriter.
The Closing Ceremony of the Forward Future Section of the 8th Beijing International Film Festival was held in Beijing Film Academy on the evening of April 21, 2018. At the Closing Ceremony, four awards including Most Highlighted Screenwriter, Most Highlighted Director, Most Highlighted Film and Most Highlighted Film by Audience were unveiled.
In the 8 days of “Forward Future” International Panorama Section, a total of 17 films were screened and the number of people watching the movie exceeded 3,500 person/times; 8 post-panorama meet-and-greet activities were held, with each session lasting more than half an hour. At the same time, an international academic seminar on "North European film research" was held. Eight scholars from home and abroad gathered to focus on North European films and conduct in-depth discussions and exchanges on North European film industry, film creation, and film research.
For this year’s Forward Future Section, in addition to the three major awards of Most Highlighted Screenwriter, Most Highlighted Director and Most Highlighted Film, it has added the award of Most Highlighted Film by Audience, in a bid to commend those films favored by audiences. The three major awards are comprehensively selected through audience voting and expert review, and each winner has an reward of 10,000 yuan. The Forward Future Section complies with its established purpose and is becoming more and more robust on the road to discovering young directors and fresh blood. The Closing Ceremony was presided over by Prof. Wu Guanping, executive president of China Film Culture Institute, and dean of Film Department of Beijing Film Academy. The Chinese film Wangdrak's Rain Boots won the prize of Most Highlighted Screenwriter. The director of Japanese film Oh Lucy! Atsuko Hirayanagi won the award of Most Highlighted Director. Winter Brothers co-produced by Denmark and Iceland won the award of Most Highlighted Film. Oblivion Verses co-produced by France, Germany, Netherlands and Chile won the award of Most Highlighted Film by Audience with the voting of 788 audiences.
Prof. Sun Lijun, Vice Chairman of the Organizing Committee of Beijing International Film Festival and Vice President of Beijing Film Academy was present at the Closing Ceremony and gave a speech. The jury members Sai Ren, Europa, Ye Hang, Wang Yao, and Shen Yi of this section attended the ceremony and presented awards to the winners. Prof. Sun said that during the eight-year journey, the Forward Future Section has brought forward many excellent freshman films to the world. On the stage of the standard screening hall, we ushered in outstanding filmmakers from around the world one group after another. On behalf of Beijing Film Academy, Prof. Sun Lijun expressed thanks to the Organizing Committee of Beijing International Film Festival and relevant leadership units. He showed gratitude to the arduous work of China Film Culture Institute, the film department of Beijing Film Academy, and volunteer team, as well as the jury, film creators from around the world and the enthusiastic audiences. Prof. Sun said that there are tens of thousands of screens in China, but the screen of Beijing Film Academy is different. It not only displays commercial films, but also carries a large number of niche literary films. He wished all the participating films a successful outcome, and hoped that all the film creators could stay true to their initial mission and struggle for the dream of film.
Afterwards, the well-known film critic Ye Hang and Europa unveiled the Most Highlighted Screenwriter. The director and scriptwriter Lhapal Gyal of Wangdrak's Rain Boots came to the stage to receive the award and delivered a awarding speech. Lhapal Gyal indicated that as a student of Beijing Film Academy, it was the first time that he stood on the podium. He firstly expressed gratitude to the jury's affirmation of his long-running debut work Wangdrak's Rain Boots, and thanked the behind-the-scenes creation as well as production and distribution team of this film. In his speech, Lhapal Gyal hoped that more powers would focus on and support young filmmakers and he would continue to work hard, study modestly, and live up to everyone’s expectations.
The winner of the Most Highlighted Film by Audience was unveiled by Zhou Yiwen, a postgraduate of Beijing Film Academy, as well as a volunteer of this year’s film festival. Due to the voluntary work, she only watched two nominated films--Hurricane Squad and Thick Lashes of Lauri M?ntyvaara. She felt a little bit regretful. Since the winners of Most Highlighted Director, Most Highlighted Film and Most Highlighted Film by Audience could not attend the ceremony for some reason, the receiving link of the three awards were replaced by live screenings of clips of award-winning films.
Besides, the Closing Ceremony was also attended by Hou Guangming, Vice Chairman of the Organizing Committee of Beijing International Film Festival, and Director of Beijing Film Academy Committee, and Chairman of Board of Directors, Dag Asbjolsen, international principal of Norwegian Film Academy and Member of Scandinavia Film Management Committee, Elena Laku, Project Executive of Romanian Cultural Center in Beijing, Zhou Yangyang from Danish Cultural Center in Beijing, as well as the crew and cast of such films as Vakuum, Thick Lashes of Lauri M?ntyvaara, Hurricane Squad, Secret Ingredient, The Home, and End of Summer. Finally, the host Prof. Wu Guanping thanked the delegates of all the films participating in this year's Forward Future and thanked the volunteers from various departments of Beijing Film Academy. The success of this year’s Forward Future international film exhibition was inseparable from the hard work of volunteers. They are an important guarantee for smooth progress of each activity.