Review of Beijing International Sports Film Week Forum
On April 20, 2024, the Forum on Beijing International Sports Film Week & Film Promotion was held at Langyuan Station. Shui Qingxia, a member of the National People's Congress (NPC), China women's football star, the former head coach of the National Team, Xu Jiren, vice president of the Chinese Football Association (CFA), Cai Tianjun, general manager of China Mobile Migu Video Content Operation Center, Liu Huanyu, director of the Hive5 Sports Short Film Festival, and Wang Ke, founder of PAPA Pictures, director and screenwriter, were present at the forum as guests to share their unique and profound insights on sports films.
Site of the Forum
Group photo of forum guests
Xu Jiren shared his changing perception of football first. He pointed out the importance of cultural quality and cultural cognition to the development of the sport, and emphasized the role of cultural education in enhancing players' self-restraint and learning ability. He believed that the learning ability and self-restraint of football players are closely related to cultural exchange. He emphasized that in the actual practice of sport, people may unconsciously overlook the importance of cultural education, which is often an area in need of high priority. He advocated that physical education should start from the beginning and we needed to have a change of mindset from now on. He noted that modern young people have a greater capacity to embrace new things, which provides an opportunity for a change in the system of sports training -- to cultivate the potential of athletes through cultural education and lay a solid foundation for the long-term development of the football.
He also advocated that with the development of modern communication platforms and AI technology, the ways of spreading sportsmanship have become more diversified. He recalled the sports film Woman Basketball Player No. 5 in his childhood, as well as the diversified forms of communication nowadays, such as cartoons, animations, games, and short videos. He also specially mentioned a short video of Chinese Women's Football Team during the COVID-19 pandemic, which recorded how the women's football team insisted on physical training in the corridor during the quarantine period in the hotel of Australia. Although the video was not of high picture quality, it truly showed the spirit of the athletes which greatly moved many audiences.
Xu Jiren
He believed that for sports films, the technology and packaging of the film or television works are not the decisive factors. What really moves people is the content itself. He emphasized that the sincerity and touchingness of the content can produce great influence. Meanwhile, he recalled the time when he was working in the sports department of Xinhua News Agency, Li Wenwen, a member of the Chinese Weightlifting Team recorded the whole process of the departure from Olympic Village to being isolated with the mobile phone. The first-person perspective video shows the daily lives and emotions of athletes in a way that is difficult for traditional media to capture. In his eyes, such self-produced content creation should be encouraged and supported, even though the external cameramen, directors and journalists could not access to certain occasions. The authentic and frontline content can not only enrich the way sportsmanship is communicated, but also provide the audience with a more diverse and in-depth perspective.
Based on her own coaching experience in Chinese Women's Football Team, Shui Qingxia talked about the role of sports images in motivating athletes from the victory in the Asian Games, especially in mobilizing them before important matches. She also emphasized the role of sports films in conveying real-life scenarios of sports, including the presentation of athletes' frustrations and struggles. In her opinion, the reasons behind the successes and failures of many team sports are often hidden in the real-life scenarios within the team that are not well known. She believed that recording and restoring these scenes is not only an exploration of the essence of life, but also the inheritance of sportsmanship, which is a creative direction that sports film can explore. Meanwhile, she believed that sports is an important carrier to show the national sports spirit, which can inspire young people to learn the power of role models from sports stars. She expected to pass on and promote the indomitable spirit of Chinese Women's Football Team, especially their perseverance in the face of adversity through films and other forms. She knew the inheritance of the spirit of Chinese Women's Football Team demands more efforts and publicity, and she called on everyone to join hands to contribute to the power of sports, the cultural inheritance and the national sports spirit.
Shui Qingxia
Cai Tianjun shared the role of new media platforms in the promotion of sports films. She took the film YOLO as an example to illustrate the combination of sports and entertainment crossover and women's power. During the promotion stage of the film, the team carried out a series of cloud promotion activities, which received extensive positive feedback from the market and users. She said that the core of the promotion lies in highlighting the themes of cross-border and women’s power, especially by narrating the legendary story of the female protagonist, integrating the struggling spirit of the female protagonist in the film with the fighting spirit of Zhang Weili and Yan Xiaonan, two Chinese female players, and realizing the emotional and spiritual resonance between film and TV productions and the sports events, which greatly enhances the communication effect. During the promotion, Zhang Guilin, a well-known female athlete, was also specially invited to interact with users in real time with new live broadcast technology. With the release of the film, some interactive forms such as topic ranking and user voting were introduced, which effectively boosted user participation and the film popularity. She believed that this case demonstrates that in sports-themed film and sports events promotion, more users prefer multi-channel and multi-form information reception. Short video consumption has become a norm, and the form of content distribution has evolved from graphics and video to new technologies that combine live streaming and interaction. Sports films can make good use of this advantage by integrating resources such as events, athletes and sports brands to achieve the goal of resource sharing and win-win situation. In addition, she also discussed the role of user interaction and live streaming technology in enhancing communication effects.
Cai Tianjun
Liu Huanyu talked about the role of sports films and animation works in building sports IP. She emphasized the commonality of emotionality and narrative in sports and films. She introduced how sports films can excavate the stories behind through process narratives to enhance the cultural influence of sports IP. She believed that sports films can also play an important role in popularizing sports culture and promoting sportsmanship. Both sports and films can inspire emotional resonance in the audience, create unforgettable experiences, whether it is the fierce competition on the field or the moving stories on the screen. The uncertainty of sporting events is complemented by the dramatic tension of films, and both have a strong narrative and global cultural impact that resonates across the geographical and linguistic boundaries.
Liu Huanyu
Wang Ke introduced how to express the urgency of sports competition through animation from a creator's perspective, and how to convey the feelings of the athletes with visual symbols. He talked about the advantages of animation in representing the intense scenes of sports competition and how to construct character movements through motion design and visual narratives. He said that during the creation of sports works, he paid special attention on how to translate the feelings and vision of the athletes into visual art, how to convey emotion through narration and other intuitive elements. He said that sports storytelling should be closer to the audience's daily life for mutual understanding and resonation when compared to more abstract subjects such as math or studying abroad. He encouraged young directors to devote themselves to their creations, and to convey the spirit of sportsmanship by digging deeper and presenting a true picture of the athletes' journey as well as their growth and breakthroughs in the face of adversity, to inspire people to face the difficulties and challenges of life, and to inspire the courage and determination.
Wang Ke
At the end of the forum, Xu Jiren pointed out that the essence of sports films is a genre, and it should constantly search for the most suitable and appropriate genre narrative bodies - - such as inspirational, affectionate, and love emotions. He believed that sports and emotional expression have a common advantage beyond countries and cultures, and that a good sports film will be able to play the role of spreading universal values in an effective manner.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Beijing International Sports Film Week. This year, it aims to continue to spread the Olympic spirit through the power of sports film and television works, strengthen Chinese and foreign sports cultural exchanges, and tell more excellent Chinese sports stories to the international community and help build a strong sports nation.
Founded in 2005, Beijing International Sports Film Week serves as an international sports film and television exchange event initiated by Beijing in preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games. After the Beijing Olympic Games, it was continued by the Beijing Olympic City Development Association as an important part of the Beijing Olympic City Sports Culture Festival. Since 2009, this event has officially become one of the important sub-stations of the Sport Movies & TV-Milano International FICTS FEST-World Championship Final. While introducing international excellent sports film and television works, it has been invited for "China Day" and other related activities to actively disseminate China's excellent sports film and television culture overseas as one of the important bridges for China's sports film and television culture to the world. By 2023, the Beijing International Sports Film Week has been held for 19 consecutive years, with nearly 200 excellent works competing for the awards at the Sport Movies & TV-Milano International FICTS FEST-World Championship Final. A total of 69 works won prizes in various competition sections and 32 works of them won the Mention d'Honneur. The works Beijing 2022 and Our Winter Olympics presented by the 2023 Beijing International Sports Film Week won two awards of Mention d'Honneur and five other works won the award of Special Mention.
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