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Judges of the 14th BJIFF AIGC Film Shorts Section Announced
The 14th Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF) has launched the AIGC Film Shorts Section for the first time, aimed at focusing on the application and innovative exploration of AI technology in the film and television industry, and better facilitating the transformation and development of the industry in China.
Since calling for entries worldwide from January 8, 2024, the Organizing Committee has received almost 500 competition and exhibition works from all over the world by the end of March 31. To ensure professional and authoritative evaluation, through information check and screening, eligible works will enter the preliminary review, and the first-round jury will select excellent works shortlisted for the final-round review.
The first-round jury consists of experts in AI film and television industry, well-known AI creative artists, and scholars from professional animation colleges and universities, while the final-round jury is composed of senior film and TV experts and AI technical experts. The evaluation will be conducted from many dimensions, such as AI technology application, theme expression, artistic appeal, audiovisual language, etc. At the First AIGC Film Shorts Competition, five awards, namely Best Film, Best Creativity, Best Art Design, Best Visual Effects and Best Popularity, as well as ten excellent works will be eventually selected.
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Lineup of Final-round Jury
President: Xue Xiaolu
Members: William Feng, Ma Ping, Gillian Zhao and Xu Di
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Xue Xiaolu
Film director, screenwriter and literary writer
Xue Xiaolu is currently a professor and master supervisor with the Department of Literature, Beijing Film Academy, council member of the China Film Association, Vice Chairman of the Beijing Film Association, member of the China Writers Association.
Xue has created a number of film and TV works as a screenwriter and director, such as Ocean Heaven, Finding Mr. Right, Finding Mr. Right 2, The Whistleblower, the Return segment in My People, My Country, Embrace Again, Together, Running for Son, Autumnal Rain, Celebrate Chinese New Year, Don’t Respond to Strangers, Son in Mourning, etc. Xue's films have won multiple awards at home and abroad, including the Huabiao Film Awards for Outstanding New Screenplay, Outstanding Director and Outstanding Feature Film, China Film Directors’ Guild Awards for Best Screenplay, China Movie Channel Media Awards for Best Film and Best Director, Huading Awards for Best New Director, Best Director Award at the Changchun Film Festival, Outstanding Screenplay Awarded by the Motion Picture Association of America, etc. Xue has also published a few film and television novels.
William Feng
Head of Greater China & Vice President of Asia Pacific, Motion Picture Association of America
William Feng fully oversees the business development and copyright protection of the US film and television entertainment industry in China and Asia Pacific. Feng has initiated and promoted a number of fruitful cooperation programs between Chinese and American film and and television industries, including the Paramount-China Filmmaker Exchange Program, MPA Workshop & Masterclass, Global Film Industry Chain Development Forum, and Golden Screen Awards for Sino-foreign film co-productions.
Feng has rich work experience in governmental institutions and Fortune Global 500 companies, such as the Smithsonian Institution, Hill & Knowlton Strategies, Dell Inc., Viacom/MTV, etc.
Ma Ping
Deputy General Manager of the State Production Base of China Film Group, Vice Chairman of the Chinese Society of Cinematographers, standing council member of the China Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, distinguished professor at Central Academy of Drama, film director, producer and visual director
Ma Ping has participated in over a hundred film works as a member of the cast and crew, including Beginning of The Great Revival, The Founding of a Republic, Amazing China, The Knot, The Golden Era, Go for China Dream, City of Life and Death, Madam Liang Hongyu, The Legend of Nanyue, etc. He has developed several technological achievements with independent intellectual property rights in artificial intelligence, virtual shooting, digital actors and other fields, and won multiple technological awards at provincial and ministerial levels. He has long been dedicated to practically applying frontier to film creation, emphasizing the narrative expression of visual effects, and constantly making breakthroughs in the film expression paradigm with scientific and technological innovations.
Gillian Zhao
President of Warner Bros. Discovery in China from 2016 to 2023; an influential media expert and highly-respected tech executive
As the only president of Warner Bros. in China so far, Gillian Zhao has successfully built a local team that achieved extraordinary strategic development and breakthroughs in the film and broader fields, helping Warner Bros. establish a trustworthy and remarkable industry status in the Chinese market.
Prior to that, Zhao served as Senior Assistant to the President of Wanda Cultural Industry Group and General Manager of Wanda Pictures., and led the production of several Chinese-language hits, such as Go away Mr. Tumor and Mojin - The Lost Legend. Earlier, she also held executive positions at Bona Film Group Limited, Celestial Pictures, Star Satellite TV, and other companies. Before plunging herself into the entertainment sector, she had worked in the high-tech field for nearly 20 years, including holding management positions in multinational companies like Apple, Microsoft and IBM.
Xu Di
Technical Expert of Media Innovation Lab, Huawei Cloud
Xu Di is responsible for the research, development and product realization of AIGC and digital human technologies. Xu has been long engaged in the R&D and product realization of computer vision and AI technologies, and once worked in universities included into Project 985 and leading VR enterprises. Xu presided over many national, provincial and ministerial programs as the project leader, published the related work in TPAMI, CVPR and other top journals, and obtained dozens of national invention patents.
First-round Jury
Li Zhiyong
Associate professor & master supervisor, School of Animation and Digital Arts, Communication University of China, and animation director & Founder of JJJOY Studios
Li Zhiyong has won multiple awards in top animation competitions at home and abroad, including the Junior Jury Award at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, first prize in China region at TBS DigiCon6 & bronze prize in the finals, Chinese Culture and Art Government Awards, Best Animated Short Film Award under the Support Program on Chinese Original Animation Works and Creative Talents, Golden Monkey King Awards for Best Animated Short Film at the China International Cartoon & Animation Festival, China Animation and Comic Competition Golden Dragon Award for Best Animated Short Film, etc.
Luo Xiao
Senior creative technology expert, digital artist and Founder of Contra
Luo Xiao is engaged in interactive media, AI, creation and teaching of generative art. Luo has reached long-term cooperation with the Media Art Research Center under the International College of Central Academy of Fine Arts, the Artificial Intelligence and Art Creation Research Center under the College of Architecture and Urban Planning of Tongji University, and the Art and Technology Innovation Base of Tsinghua University as a tutor. Luo once worked for Tencent ISUX and NetEase Games.
Wu Zhuohao
Associate professor of Communication University of China and Chief Scientist & Co-founder of Apalang Creative Technology
Wu Zhuohao was once named Vice President of Sinovation Ventures AI Institute, and head of product design for Google and Airbnb China. Wu has coached hundreds of enterprises, with his products being used by billions of users worldwide. Wu also serves as Deputy Director of the Professional Committee for Network Technology and Intelligent Media Design under the Association of Fundamental Computing Education in Chinese Universities, a council member of the Design Education Branch of the China Industrial Design Association and the Effie Design Awards, and a judge of the Design Intelligence Award (DIA), the Red Star Design Award and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics Mascot Design Competition. With a focus on the research and practice of AI creativity, Wu is committed to applying frontier technologies to cultural tourism, cultural & creative and education sectors. Wu once presided over AI Challenger and DeeCamp, released a report on AI creativity development in the world, developed a youth AI creativity training system, and offered a series of courses. He is also an expert of the new generation of AI youth education research group under the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Chen Kun
Founder of Xingxian Culture Media and producer of AI films and TV series
A judge of the MIT AI for Filmmaking Hackathon in the short film category, producer of AI short film Odd Mirror, and director of AI short film Young Mei Lanfang Appearing on the Stage.
Song Donghuan
Initiator of Story Storm, an AI content community
Story Storm encompasses over a hundred AI short film creators and dozens of AI technology application companies. Song Donghuan, the initiator of the community, has hosted or co-hosted more than ten AI short film competitions since August 2023, and co-planned several AI painting exhibitions and AI video screenings.
Zheng Yi
Associate professor of design science with the Communication University of China and PhD at the Institute of Software, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zheng Yi's research interests include computer graphics, generative AI, and film and television animation design. Zheng once served as a senior algorithm researcher of Kuaishou Y-tech and technical director of ByteDance in the Beijing region for intelligent creation special effects engines and tools. Zheng Yi has rich scientific research and engineering experience in VR rendering and process modeling algorithms, highly expressive 3D engine architectures, generative 3D virtual humans with 3D scene design tools, AI-driven agents and other sectors.
Wang Shuyi
Research fellow of the Digital Human Research Institute, Communication University of China; postdoctoral fellow and PhD in design, Communication University of China
Wang Shuyi is a director & professor of the South Korean Global Radio Images Seminar, council member of the Busan Radio Images Association, member of the Korea Multimedia Society (KMMS), and standing member of the Professional Committee for Digital Games and E-sports under the Association of Fundamental Computing Education in Chinese Universities.
The BJIFF Organizing Committee Office, as the host of this AI section, has joined hands with the School of Animation and Digital Arts of Communication University of China (CUC Anima) to make all preparatory work for the event. The AIGC Film Shorts Section consists of three major activities, namely the Screening of Excellent Works in the 14th BJIFF AIGC Film Shorts Competition & Opening Ceremony of the AIGC Technology Exhibition, Forum on Creators’ Opportunities and Challenges in the AIGC Environment, and Honor Ceremony of the AIGC Film Shorts Competition, which will be held from April 24 to 26. The detailed process will be announced soon. Please stay tuned!
=As the first film festival co-created with AI in the world, the BJIFF sincerely invites you to witness the wonderful integration between AIGC and cinema. Let's embark on a dream journey that embraces the future.
AIGC Film Shorts Section
Host:
BJIFF Organizing Committee Office
Organizer:
School of Animation and Digital Arts, Communication University of China
Co-organizer:
Poly Pictures Investment Co., Ltd.
China Film Studio Co., Ltd.
Technical support by:
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
Hivideo App/Beijing Goobird Technology Co., Ltd.
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