On the seventh day after the opening of the 11th Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF), a few theme forums were hosted, and various section activities were successively concluded. Highlights of the main events today are provided as follows: 

 

 

The “Forward Future” section at the 11th Beijing International Film Festival has concluded. A total of 14 films participated in the section and 12 films were screened, including The Whaler Boy, Chupacabra, Mr. Suzuki: A Man in God's Country, Friends and Strangers, The Man with the Answers, Bone Cage, Lost, BOTOX, Knock Knock, Residue, The Pit, Namo, Silenced Tree and The Pack.

 

The jury president of “Forward Future” section this year was chaired by Tony Lane, British filmmaker and commentator. Greek director Yannis Sakaridis along with Chinese actress Huang Lu, writer Shuang Xuetao and producer Shen Yang acted as the jury members. The five well-known people in the industry came from all over the world with different professional backgrounds and artistic visions. After careful watching, discussion and in-depth research, the jury members decided on 7 honors out of the distinctive shortlisted 14 films, namely, the "Most Popular Feature Film", "Most Popular Director", "Most Popular Screenplay", "Most Popular Actress", "Most Popular Actor ", "Most Popular Artistic Contribution" and "Special Mention Film by the Jury". 

 

Iranian film Namo won the honor of "Most Popular Feature Film". Over the years, the “Forward Future” section has been dedicated to discovering and promoting new filmmakers and works, encouraging innovation, and inspiring creativity. It has become a great starting point of many filmmakers on the journey of lights and shadows. 

 

Arthouse Film Forum: Caring about Stories, Caring about People -- the Original Intention and Mission of Arthouse Films Held

 

On September 27, the 11th BJIFF Arthouse Film Forum: Caring about Stories, Caring about People -- the Original Intention and Mission of Arthouse Films was held in Beijing. This forum brought talented creators and experts with a bounty of experience in the industry together. They jointly discussed how the new generation of filmmakers can carry forward the great values of the arthouse film traditions, and grasp the historical opportunities that belong to them at this moment of film development and cultural prosperity in China. 

 

 

On September 27, the 11th BJIFF Samsung Mobile Short Film Unit grandly opened in Beijing. The three-member jury lineup of producer Ye Ning, screenwriter Shu Huan and director Li Weiran, together with young directors taking part in the Samsung Mobile Short Film Unit, were gathered at the event. They discussed with Samsung representatives about how mobile technology can transform images, and encouraged young filmmakers to engage in film creation. Besides, a few awards such as Best Director and Best Screenplay were also conferred on the scene. Besides, a roundtable discussion was also carried out under the theme “Technology empowers image revolution” to discuss the importance of shooting short films with mobile phones to discover new filmmakers. 

 

The Samsung Mobile Short Film Unit, which was launched by the 11th BJIFF in association with Samsung Galaxy S21 Series 5G-enabled mobile phones, aims to encourage young filmmakers to conduct film creation more freely, and demonstrate diverse artistic expressions in a brand new way. As an activity section with the most innovative value at the 11th BJIFF, it has attracted much attention in the industry. In the Pro Category of the 11th BJIFF -- Samsung Mobile Short Film Unit, the film Wind Chimes won the Best Director, and Adili and His Friends from Mars was awarded the Best Screenplay. Besides, Cao Gai, Good Evening Hotline and Fall into the Miranda were respectively conferred the Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Most Promising Talent. 

 

Beijing International Youth Science Video

Exhibition & Screenings Successfully Concludes

 

The Awards Ceremony for the Youth Science Movie Section of the 11th Beijing International Film Festival & 3rd Beijing International Youth Science Video Exhibition & Screenings was held at the Beijing Science Center. A few guests in the science and art circles greeted some teachers and students who were not present at the scene through the network. The activity was carried out online via picture live-streaming, and achieved 80,000 views. Expert representatives also attended the awards ceremony in honor of students. A total of 336 valid student works and 16 valid teacher works were received. Through the stringent review, the Jury has eventually selected 66 first prizes, 113 second prizes, 171 third prizes and 27 individual prizes.

 

The Beijing International Youth Science Video Exhibition & Screenings activity has been hosted for three years. It has attracted the participation by almost 10,000 young people from Beijing, Hong Kong and Macao Special Autonomous Regions in China, Russia, Czech, Italy, South Korea and other countries and regions. This activity is intended to encourage and call on more young people to excel in discovering, think diligently and feel free to create through the positive influence of the Beijing Association for Science and Technology and BJIFF. It also aims to spread scientific knowledge, deliver scientific thoughts and display the beauty of arts through science videos, continuously improve the scientific quality of the youth, help young people serve the country through science, and demonstrate the good spirit and cultural confidence of the youth with the Chinese style and their feelings for the capital.

 

 

The Forum on Short Video Creation and Short Film Art in the Age of Media Convergence of the 11th BJIFF was held at the International Exchange Center of Communication University of China. The event was guided by the BJIFF Organizing Committee and hosted by the China Cinema Editors Association (CCEA) and INMYSHOW Inc. (IMS). More than 150 scholars and industry personages from domestic colleges and universities as well as film and television production institutions discussed new forms, formats and ecology of short video development. 

 

The forum has set up keynote speeches and roundtable discussions, including "Current Status of Short Video", "Past and Future", "From Short Film to Theatrical Film", "Creating the New Value of Short Videos in the Media Socialization Era", "Cultivation of Market-oriented Short Video Creation Talent", "Art and Commerce: The Twin Engines of short Video Development", and "Short Films and Short Videos in the Intelligent and Virtual Era”. Scholars from domestic film and television media colleges, young directors, broadcasting and convergence media platforms, MCN institutions and other professionals have carried out in-depth exchanges between the academia and the industry.

 

In addition, the inaugural meeting of the Short Film and Short Video Art Committee under the China Cinema Editors Association (CCEA) was also held at the forum. It is a professional organization composed of editing and creation professionals in the fields of short films, commercial short videos, experimental short videos and other types of short videos. More than 400 professionals from more than 200 domestic movie and TV media colleges and production organizations have joined the committee. 

 

 

The Beijing Film Panorama of the 11th BJIFF today screened two films by young director Wei Shujun, On the Border, a short film, and Striding into the Wind, a theatrical feature film. The two films with different subjects have fully demonstrated the young director’s talent, who has specially recorded a 15-minute interview video for the post-screening exchange.

 

In the VCR, Wei shared his thoughts with the audience, and also provided his own experience in creation for young filmmakers. Besides, as a moviegoer, the young director also shared his views about films and creation, as well as his thoughts about film festival events. 

 

 

 

The 11th Beijing International Film Festival has joined hands with Variety to launch a promotional video of filmmakers attending this year's event, which incorporated 55 filmmakers of different ages, professions and styles. Among them are not only old film artists who pursue both professional excellence and moral integrity, such as Tian Hua and Xie Fang, but also renowned directors who have presented countless best-sellers, such as Huang Jianxin, Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark and Dante Lam; not only film veterans with good acting like Gong Li, Xu Fan, Zhang Yi and Wu Jing, but also new film stars, including Zhou Dongyu, Zhu Yilong, Rong Zishan and Peng Yuchang. The BJIFF invites you to witness their glorious moments together. 

 

 

On September 27, the Beijing International Film Festival continued to attract attention and enjoyed a good reputation. Almost 3,300 media and platforms have reported the achievements of the BJIFF and profound connotations of each forum. The domestic news coverage focused on the achievements of the BJIFF and profound connotations of each forum, while reports from foreign media spoke highly of the positive changes of the 11th BJIFF, and called on film and television works in their countries to participate in the festival positively. In addition, the BJIFF announced that Zhou Shen was named a film music promoter of the 28th Beijing College Student Film Festival, which has greatly increased the expectations of netizens. One of the calligraphic works from actor Huang Xuan was exhibited at the 6th "Sunshine over Land • Light over Ink" China Filmmaker & Artist Works Invitational Exhibition of the 11th BJIFF, which has sparked heated discussions among netizens, and increased the public opinion of the activity. Moreover, the Second Tiantan Award Jury Press Conference has also become a focus of attention. On the seventh day of the BJIFF, a total of 72,052 pieces of information were reported, gaining 1,880,660,000 network-wide views. With the rapid growth of discussions and topics, the BJIFF has provided a high quality and a good atmosphere. 

 

 

On September 27, the iQIYI Online BJIFF made its debut. The Gong Li Workshop & Masterclass was held, where Gong along with the cast & crew of Saturday Fiction, the closing film of the 11th BJIFF, talked about films on the scene. The complete version should not be missed. The Young Filmmakers Forum under the theme of Industrial Consciousness and Mainstream Expression discussed the possibility and breakthrough of film industry in the future. Everything Will Be Fine, a new film that may be the next dark horse, is available for reservations. iQIYI has organized an offline viewing activity for the film. Almost 200 moviegoers were gathered offline with high enthusiasm. The iQIYI Online BJIFF will continue to present more highlights.