Juliette Binoche is a French actress and director who is known for Three Colors: Blue, The English Patient, Chocolat, Certified Copy, Clouds of Sils Maria, and The Taste of Things. In 1993, she won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the 50th Venice International Film Festival and the César Award for Best Actress for Three Colors: Blue. In 1997, she received the 69th Academy Award (Oscar) and BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress for The English Patient, and also won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 47th Berlin International Film Festival. In 2000, she earned the 73rd Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for Chocolat. In 2010, she won the Best Actress Award at the 63rd Festival de Cannes for Certified Copy, becoming the first performer in film history to receive Best Actress honors at all three major European film festivals - Cannes, Venice and Berlin. In 2019, she served as Jury President of Main Competition Section at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival. In 2025, she acted as Jury President of the Competition Section at the 78th Festival de Cannes and currently serves as President of the European Film Academy.

Over a career spanning more than four decades, Binoche has appeared in over seventy films, working across both European art films and major international productions. She has collaborated with some of the world’s most acclaimed filmmakers, including Jean-Luc Godard, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Michael Haneke, Abbas Kiarostami, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Hirokazu Kore-eda and Tran Anh Hung. Renowned for her distinctive artistic sensitivity and emotional depth, she is widely regarded as one of the most influential French actresses of contemporary cinema. Her screen presence combines intellectual refinement with emotional intensity, with each performance reflecting her commitment to exploring the inner life of her characters.

This year, Binoche serves as Jury President for the Competition Section, Tiantan Award, marking the first time she has taken on this role in China. Drawing on her deep understanding of both Eastern and Western cinema, as well as her extensive judging experience at leading international film festivals, she will lead the jury in selecting this year’s winners of Tiantan Award, bringing artistic authority and a global perspective to the Beijing International Film Festival. In addition, the Beijing Film Panorama Section of this year’s festival will present a special retrospective of Juliette Binoche, featuring a selection of her most celebrated works and offering audiences the opportunity to revisit the enduring screen legacy of this iconic French actress.

Bi Gan is a Chinese film director and screenwriter, known for Kaili Blues, Long Day's Journey into Night, and Resurrection. In 2015, his debut feature Kaili Blues won the Best Emerging Director Award at the 68th Locarno Film Festival, and received the Most Popular Feature Picture honor in the Forward Future Section at the 6th Beijing International Film Festival the following year. In 2018, his second feature Long Day's Journey Into Night was selected for the Un Certain Regard Section of the 71st Festival de Cannes. In 2025, his third feature Resurrection was selected for the Competition Section at the 78th Festival de Cannes, where it received a Special Award. In the same year, Bi Gan was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Widely regarded as one of the most distinctive voices among Chinese filmmakers, Bi Gan is internationally recognized for his poetic visual style and daring use of long takes. His films are known for blending dreamlike imagery with reality, combining austere lyricism with strong humanistic themes, and expanding the aesthetic possibilities of modern Chinese-language filmmaking. As a member of the Tiantan Award International Jury, Bi Gan will bring his singular artistic perspective and deep understanding of cinematic language to this year's deliberations, contributing the insight of a leading new-generation Chinese filmmaker.

Tran Anh Hung is a French-Vietnamese film director and screenwriter who is known for The Scent of Green Papaya, Cyclo, Norwegian Wood, and The Taste of Things. In 1993, his debut feature The Scent of Green Papaya won the Caméra d'Or and the Prix de la Jeunesse at the 46th Festival de Cannes, received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, and won the César Award for Best Debut. In 1995, his film Cyclo won the Golden Lion at the 52nd Venice International Film Festival. In 2023, he won the Best Director Award at the 76th Festival de Cannes for The Taste of Things. Tran Anh Hung has also served on numerous international festival juries, including as Jury President of the Caméra d'Or at the Festival de Cannes in 1998, as a member of the Competition Section Jury in 1996, and as Jury President of the Golden Goblet Awards at the 26th Shanghai International Film Festival in 2024.

Internationally acclaimed for a body of work that bridges Eastern and Western cinematic traditions, Tran Anh Hung is known for a refined, understated and highly poetic visual style. From his Vietnam-set trilogy to his adaptation of Haruki Murakami's novel, and later his French-language food-centric film in collaboration with Juliette Binoche, his films move fluidly between Eastern aesthetics and Western narrative forms. As a member of the Tiantan Award Jury, he will bring a cross-cultural artistic perspective with extensive international festival experience, offering thoughtful judgment shaped by both aesthetic sensitivity and global vision.

Gabriel Mascaro is a Brazilian director, screenwriter and visual artist whose credits include The Blue Trail, Neon Bull and Divine Love. In 2015, he won the Orizzonti Special Jury Prize at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival for Neon Bull, which was later named one of The New York Times Best Movies of 2016. That same year, Lincoln Center in New York hosted a retrospective of his work. In 2019, his film Divine Love premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and went on to screen widely at international festivals. In 2025, his film The Blue Trail was selected for the Competition Section at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival, where it received the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize.

Working across documentary and feature film, Mascaro is known for a distinctive sensory approach and bold narrative experimentation. Rooted in the cultural landscape of northeastern Brazil, his films combine poetic imagery with sharp social observation, and have received more than fifty international awards. As a member of the Tiantan Award Jury, Mascaro will bring the perspective of Latin American cinema together with extensive artistic experience, adding a broader multicultural dimension to this year's deliberations.

Simon Franglen is a British composer and music producer whose credits include Avatar: The Way of Water, The Magnificent Seven and Avatar: Fire and Ash. As a music producer, he contributed to the recording of My Heart Will Go On, the theme song of Titanic, which won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year. He later played a key role in the music production of major international films including Avatar, Skyfall, Spectre and The Amazing Spider-Man, working in electronic music arrangement and film scoring. In 2022, Franglen composed the score for Avatar: The Way of Water, earning multiple honors including the World Soundtrack Award and the ASCAP Composers' Choice Award for Film Score of the Year, as well as a Golden Globe nomination. In 2024, he was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 2025, he composed more than three hours of original music for Avatar: Fire and Ash, directed by James Cameron, winning several major awards, including Score of the Year from the International Film Music Critics Association.

Widely regarded as one of the most inventive film composers working in Hollywood today, Franglen has created musical work spanning symphonic, electronic and world music, while his pioneering exploration of immersive audio has helped expand the creative possibilities of film scoring. As a member of the Tiantan Award Jury, he will bring extensive experience in film music together with a keen artistic sensibility, offering a distinctive perspective shaped by the interplay of sound and image.

Zhang Xiaofei is a Chinese actress, who is known for Hi, Mom, Last Suspect, YOLO and Malice. In 2021, she won the Best Actress award at the 34th China Film Golden Rooster Awards for her performance in Hi, Mom, and was also nominated for Best Actress at the 36th Hundred Flowers Awards. The film became a landmark box-office success in China, grossing RMB 5.4 billion and securing its place among the most successful titles in Chinese cinema history. In 2023, Zhang starred in the crime thriller Last Suspect, where she delivered a performance noted for its dramatic intensity. She returned to the screen in 2024 with YOLO, which again achieved strong commercial results. The cumulative box office gross of films in which she has starred has surpassed RMB 10 billion, making her the first Chinese actress born after 1985 to reach that milestone as a lead performer in Chinese film history.

From the comedy stage to the film set, Zhang Xiaofei has completed a remarkable transition from comedic performer to Golden Rooster Award–winning actress through perseverance and a deep commitment to her craft, becoming one of the most bankable actress in today’s Chinese film market. Known for her natural and emotionally nuanced performances, she brings warmth and authenticity to her characters. As a member of the Tiantan Award jury, Zhang contributes solid acting credentials and a broad understanding of film art, offering a fresh and sincere perspective to this year’s deliberations.

Zhang Yi is a Chinese actor, who is known for Cliff Walkers, Endless Journey, Home Coming, My People, My Country "Passing by" Segment, Mountains May Depart, Be My Family, Operation Red Sea, Cock and Bull, Full River Red, Dearest, Brotherhood of Blades II: The Infernal Battlefield and The Sacrifice. Films he has appeared in have been screened, nominated and received awards at major international film festivals including Cannes, Berlin, Venice, San Sebastián, Shanghai and Toronto. Over the course of his career, Zhang has received numerous major acting honors, including the China Huabiao Film Awards (18th and 20th), the China Golden Rooster Awards (30th and 34th), the Hundred Flowers Awards (36th), the China Film Directors' Guild Annual Award (8th), and awards from the 24th and 28th Beijing College Student Film Festivals. He is widely regarded as one of the most respected actors in Chinese cinema, combining critical acclaim with strong box-office appeal. Zhang has previously served as a juror for the 38th China Golden Rooster Awards and the 6th Hainan Island International Film Festival, and as a member of the Artistic Committee of the 2024 Aranya Waves Film Festival. Joining the jury of the Beijing International Film Festival, he will bring extensive screen experience and deep insight into the craft of performance, contributing a professional perspective shaped by years of work as a leading actor.

From the banks of the Seine to Kaili in Guizhou, from the symphonic worlds of Pandora to the vast landscapes of northeastern Brazil, from the delicate fragrance of green papaya in Vietnam to the everyday warmth of life in China, the seven artists gather for this year's Tiantan Award at Beijing International Film Festival, bringing with them creative journeys that span cultures, regions and cinematic traditions. With distinct but profound artistic visions, they will evaluate the competing films from multiple cultural and aesthetic perspectives, allowing different traditions of filmmaking to meet and resonate on the stage of the Tiantan Award.

Led by Jury President Juliette Binoche, this year's Tiantan Award jury will convene in Huairou, Beijing - widely known as China's Film Capital - to begin a judging process guided by both professional rigor and artistic inspiration. The jury will select works that not only captivate audiences but also earn the recognition of filmmakers and industry professionals alike. "Northernmost Beijing, Most Beautiful Huairou." As the BJIFF unfolds here once again, audiences can look forward to the announcement of new Tiantan Award winners and to another memorable moment celebrating the art of world cinema.