BJIFF–30th BCSFF Comes Soon: Activities Schedule and Sections Overview
Film camera captures the vigor of youth, and silver screen records the power of youth.
The 30th Beijing College Student Film Festival (BCSFF), a sidebar running alongside the Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF), which features amazing activities, is soon to open on April 23, 2023.
Into its 30th year, the event establishes itself towards the light.
Make time in your schedule and celebrate a grand film occasion in the BCSFF.
Here is the schedule of various activities.
Section Overview
I. BCSFF SPECIAL to Celebrate Its 30th Anniversary
Since its inception in 1993, the BCSFF has been pursuing the distinctive features of “Organized by College Students, Enjoyed by College Students, Appraised by College Students, and Filmed by College Students”, with the motto “Passion, Academic Sense, and Cultural Awareness” at its core. It devotes itself to making young people play their part in the development of Chinese cinema. On the occasion of the celebration of the 30th anniversary, this year’s BCSFF will launch a special retrospective, an online film screening, and an academic forum, inviting everyone to recall the past and advance for more success together.
The BCSFF Retrospective to Celebrate Its 30th Anniversary—Look Back at Three Decades of Evolution will exhibit historical photos, special issues, mascots, and other material of previous BCSFF sessions to recall the shared memories among the BCSFF, college student audiences, and Chinese cinema over the past three decades.
During the BCSFF Online Film Screening to Celebrate Its 30th Anniversary—Develop Together with Chinese Cinema, outstanding Chinese film productions that stood out at the previous BCSFF sessions over the past 30 years will be selected for online screenings, in a view to highlight the unique aesthetic interest and academic sense of college students, and to review the role of the BCSFF in contributing to the modernization of Chinese cinema.
The Academic Forum on the 30th Anniversary of the BCSFF, namely, Academic Forum on “Establish Ourselves Towards the Light: Three Decades of Chinese Cinema and a New Chinese Path to Modernization”, features a plenary session titled “Talk on Modernization of Chinese Films” and a parallel session on “Chinese Films and Youth Literature and Art Criticism”. At the event, leading filmmakers and academic experts will revisit the exciting, remarkable development of Chinese cinema over the past three decades, and explore new ideas to push Chinese cinema towards a higher level of high-quality development, in a concerted effort to contribute to the building of China into a film and cultural powerhouse.
II. Academic and Cultural Activities
By focusing on the creativity of young filmmakers and rooting for them, the BCSFF has been adamant on building a unique young filmmakers community in China. This year, it will host the Young Filmmakers Forum, the 4th Forum for International Young Scholars, and other activities to build fronts for young filmmakers’ creation, academic research and literary criticism.
With the theme of “Return to Realism and Breakthrough of Imagination”, the Young Filmmakers Forum will round up young film directors, screenwriters, producers, actors and other practitioners with broad influence at home and abroad to share their views on the trending topics of Chinese filmmaking.
The 4th Forum for International Young Scholars will get together over 40 young scholars from home and abroad to delve into new developments, new phenomena, and new forms of film art, and build a platform for academic exchange and the display of academic achievements.
III. Thematic Screening Activities
In terms of screenings, the 30th BCSFF will hold the showings and post-screening discussions of 31 excellent home-grown films selected for the “Flashing Youth” section at the Donghuan Cinema of Donghuan Plaza and the New United Films Jinbao Palace Cinema of Jinbao Palace Shopping Mall, Beijing. With established records on the big screen, these titles, which tell a moving history, deal with social reality, or explore diversified genres, will show the remarkable achievements Chinese cinema has made from 2022 to the present.
At the “Youth Night” for the 30th BCSFF on May 4, movie fans and college students nationwide will be cordially invited to witness the birth of outstanding domestic films "Youth Honor". witness the announcement of the “Youth Honor” winners standing out from home-made films in each category.
In addition to the screening activities in Beijing and Zhuhai, this year’s BCSFF will also launch a national in-campus exhibition tour in collaboration with more than 50 colleges and universities across the country, harnessing the power of young people and making dreams of youth come true.
IV. Selection of Students’ Original Films
For the activities such as the 23rd International College Student Film Selection, the 9th Youth Excellent Script Selection, and the 2023 College Students Film Review Selection, this year’s BCSFF has received many submissions of amazing original short films, original scripts, and film critiques from colleges and universities throughout the country, witnessing the boom of creation and novel perspectives of the new-gen young filmmakers and film critics.
Furthermore, the “Original Works Night” Screening, a special event of the BCSFF, will provide college students with the market matching of their excellent original films other than screenings, issuing invitations to the selected creators and industry insiders to participate in related activities for view sharing and exchange.
V. South China (Zhuhai) Film Week
To implement the development strategy of Beijing Normal University which features an integrated school-running structure with the Beijing campus and the Zhuhai campus as two wings, the 30th BCSFF will hold the launching ceremony of the South China (Zhuhai) Film Week for the first time at the Zhuhai Grand Theatre, also known as the “Sun and Moon Shells”, a landmark building complex designed in the shape of two shells in Zhuhai. Alongside the launch of film and TV forums, academic exchanges, film screenings, and other activities, it will interact with cultural venues to partake in the development of local art and culture, helping Zhuhai to build characteristic brand activities related to film and television.
Founded in 1993, the BCSFF is a national film festival hosted by Beijing Normal University (BNU) and organized by the School of Arts and Communication, BNU, with the approval and support of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee (the China Film Administration), the Ministry of Education, the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, and the Beijing Municipal Radio and Television Bureau. Its commitment to developing into a characteristic film festival that is “organized by college students, enjoyed by college students, filmed by college students, and appraised by college students” in pursuit of the principle of “Passion, Academic Sense, and Cultural Awareness” sets at the foundation of the BCSFF’s unique features unlike other film festivals.
Built upon such classic activities as film screenings, scholars’ forum, and the selection of college students’ original films, the BJIFF – 30th BCSFF continues to be updated, pushing forward with more young people to fulfill their dreams about film!
Go for your dreams about film and air youth’s inspirational views.
You will enjoy the excitement and highlights of films at the BJIFF – 30th BCSFF.
See you then!