Classics Recreated, Youth on Stage: Global Competition Plays & Theater Directors List Announced for the 15th BJIFF BE SEEN Training Camp
Old scripts reinterpreted, and the essence of theater reborn; Classics are tempered anew, their artistic vitality rekindled. We have grown accustomed to classic films being frozen on screen, repeatedly narrating universal parables. However, the significance of classic films frequently extends beyond the films themselves, instilling in memory a timeless quality that transcends eras.
This year, the "BE SEEN Youth Actors Support Program" is launching as one of the featured activities of the 15th Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF), aiming to break away from traditional conservatism in classic inheritance and reshape the training pathways in the performing arts industry in a more innovative way.
Using classic film adaptations as its foundation, the "BE SEEN Program" has created a co-creation platform for talented young actors and theater directors. In a contemporary drama framework, the actors have explored new performance dimensions through cross-media performance training through the interplay of historical texts and current social issues. The drama adaptations of the "BE SEEN Program" are divided into three categories: Classic Theater, International Theater, and Experimental Theater. The creation draws inspiration from China's fifth-generation directors, internationally acclaimed suspense masterpieces, and projects by young film directors, respectively. Theater directors are challenged to maintain the core spirit of the original works while building an experimental and contemporary theatrical framework, thereby providing a new testing ground for actors to hone their skills.
From negotiating script copyrights to integrating industry resources, this year's "BE SEEN Program" is a bold and new industry-wide endeavor. In the face of uncertain realities, the only way is to begin with the essence of performance, leveraging an all-out training experience to open up new avenues of expression. We look forward to witnessing young actors and directors working hand in hand, transplanting the performative energy from classic narratives into every dream-filled heart.
The official list of global competition plays and theater directors for this year's "BE SEEN Program" has been announced!
① The Invisible Guest
Deconstructing the Human Dilemma through Multidimensional Storytelling: a New Paradigm for Questioning Sin and Redemption
The Spanish suspense masterpiece The Invisible Guest has captivated the film industry with its multi-layered, twist-filled narrative logic. Since its release in 2017, it has maintained an impressive 8.8 rating on Douban, consistently ranking among the top 250 films on Douban. As a mid-to-low-budget production, it became the first Spanish film to gross more than 100 million yuan at the Chinese box office, earning the reputation among film fans as the "textbook of suspense films".
Ding Yiteng, recognized as one of Asia's most promising theater directors and the only Chinese actor specially appointed by Denmark's Odin Theatre, has been hailed by the industry as "the leading figure among the new generation of Chinese young theater directors".
This year's "BE SEEN Program" invited Ding Yiteng as its special creative guest. For this drama adaptation, he has abandoned linear replication and instead chosen to begin with the original sin - the "car accident scene". By concealing the narrative subject and moving the story's setting to a more localized Eastern town, he reconstructs the audience's understanding of the known plot through a stage montage of flashbacks and dreams. On the "BE SEEN Program" stage, Ding Yiteng will use his unique "new paradigm" drama as a scalpel to dissect the shell of the suspense genre, allowing the classic text to be reborn within the moral dilemmas of contemporary society.
About the Director: Ding Yiteng is a director of the National Theatre of China, a postdoctoral fellow at the School of Arts of Peking University, a PhD in Directing from the Central Academy of Drama, and the only Chinese actor specially appointed by Denmark's Odin Theatre. He has been hailed by the industry as "the leading figure among the new generation of Chinese young theater directors". Since 2024, he has served as a judge for the Wuzhen Theatre Festival's Emerging Theatre Artists Competition; in 2022, he was a temporary guest of the national variety show Back to Field; in 2021, he was a resident guest of Theatre For Living; and in 2018, he won the "Annual Emerging Director Award" at the One Drama Awards of Shanghai Jing'an Modern Drama Valley. Ding Yiteng's "new paradigm" drama works are a pioneering fusion of traditional and contemporary, Eastern and Western artistic essences across time and space. His highly stylized and contemporary interpretations of classics have established him as a formidable force in China's theater scene that cannot be underestimated.
② Dislocation
Dislocated Space-Time Contours: Techno-Induced Identity Anxiety
Every era has its own set of dilemmas, but one constant is identity anxiety in the shadow of a technological society. Dislocation, directed by Huang Jianxin, is a pioneering science fiction allegory in Chinese film history, serving as a pivotal nexus in his "Avant-grade Trilogy". The film's absurd narrative and surreal visual language present a profound critique of bureaucracy and identity alienation. With an impressive 8.1 rating on Douban, it is regarded as a benchmark work in domestic science fiction.
For this year's "BE SEEN Program", multi-disciplinary screenwriter and director Hao Ming adapts this classic sci-fi satire Dislocation for the stage. He transposes the original's critique of bureaucratic red tape into more contemporary anxieties: mid-life crises, layoffs at tech giants, and fears of "AI domination".
Using a "bed" as the key support prop, the theatrical version Dislocation PLUS achieves profound thematic exploration and character self-analysis within a relatively minimalist space. With a realistic performance style and comedic scene handling, a contemporary allegory about technological alienation and human self-reflection comes to life.
About the Director: Hao Ming is a screenwriter and director who graduated from the Directing Department of the Central Academy of Drama. Her representative works include Crimes of the Heart, Chocolat Piment, and Chronicles of the Courtyard, which won the Outstanding Play Award at the Closing Ceremony of the Drama in the East: Nanluoguxiang Theatre Season. As a screenwriter, her work Happy Together was selected as a Top 20 finalist at the FIRST International Film Festival's Project Market and a Top 15 finalist at the Hainan Island International Film Festival's HiAction Project Market.
③ The Gunshots of Secrecy Bureau
Espionage Codes in the Archives: The Unforgettable Weight of History
A 1979 anti-espionage classic, the first film in Chinese film history to gross over 100 million yuan at the box office, and a blockbuster that cleared the streets and became the collective memory of an era...With its authentic historical core and innovative multi-threaded narrative, the classic spy film The Gunshots of Secrecy Bureau created a box office "myth" of 180 million yuan when a movie ticket cost only 0.3 yuan and won the Outstanding Film Award from the Ministry of Culture in 1979.
As a new-generation narrative experimenter, Wang Siting, a rising theater talent born in 1998 who wears multiple hats as a screenwriter, director, and lyricist, will present a fresh interpretation of this psychological siege for the "BE SEEN Program". This adaptation sharpens the core conflict and stays true to the main line of action. The director will draw on the unique stage performance form, interweaving time and space and connecting narration to heighten suspense, and revealing the character's inner identity crisis through monologues and dreams.
Those faces without lines or close-ups in the dusty archives anchor the fictional narrative to an unforgettable historical weight. While the story must eventually end, the wheels of history continue to move forward...
About the Director: Wang Siting, born in 1998, is a graduate of the Directing Department at the Central Academy of Drama. Her representative works include It Doesn't Matter What You Look Like, Gazing at the Starry River, Huis Clos, The Field, and Betrayal. In 2025, she won the "Newcomer of the Year" award at the Beijing Non-state-owned Theatre Troupes Showcase, and was nominated for "Director of the Year" and "Screenwriter of the Year". In 2024, her screenplay was awarded the distinction of "Outstanding Script" in the drama category at the "Theatre in China" awards.
④ Librarian
From Stage to Screen: The Intellectuals' Surreal Escapade Across Media Frontiers
Young director Chen Zouming teams up with new comedy director Li Jun to condense a 2-hour film narrative into a 40-minute stage performance. Drawing from their respective professional expertise and personal experiences, the two directors dissect the anxieties and emptiness of the "algorithm era" in this unique collaboration.
The play's socially awkward librarian, He Bi, serves as both a counterpoint to those alienated by technological society and a healing balm for us on the cold, colorless stage of reality. Through an interactive prologue and media tools, the audience is drawn into the protagonist's inner world, where they experience the play's soul-stirring wonders. The two directors expanded on the film script, adding elements of stage comedy to the already darkly humorous narrative. The collision of pathos and humor provides both a healing journey for the audience and a difficult performance experiment for the actors.
About the Director: Chen Zouming is a graduate of the Directing Department at the Beijing Film Academy. He has 10 years of experience in creative planning and film and television directing. His representative works include True or False Will and Deep Crisis, which received perfect ratings on the Movie Channel. The film scripts Librarian and Rhapsody have won project market awards at several film festivals, including the FIRST International Film Festival and the Golden Rooster & Hundred Flowers Film Festival, and are currently in preparation for filming.
About the Director: Li Jun is an actor, screenwriter, and director. Li Jun is a multi-talented theater professional who served as a Chinese actor and teaching assistant for renowned theater master Suzuki Tadashi. As one of China's earliest practitioners of new comedy, he has been invited to conduct personal workshops at prestigious institutions including the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Shanghai Theatre Academy, and Post Wave Film Academy. His representative works include the dramas The Count of Monte Cristo, Cyrano de Bergerac, and Zhang's Really Handsome.
These adapted and reorganized "copies" of the trials have the potential to redefine the criteria for what constitutes a "good actor". When classic narratives are immersed in issues such as the algorithmic era, the AI wave, and feminism, actors' deep understanding of human nature and accurate grasp of real emotions will become more important measurement dimensions than "impressive acting skills."
We also hope to carry forward the core of classics and sustain high-quality creation resources from a previously unseen perspective, so that the stage and screen can nourish each other and allow young actors to find more tiny pathways to "be seen" on their journey forward.
Please stay tuned for more "BE SEEN Program" guest lineup announcements.