It’s a great honor of the 13th BJIFF Workshop & Masterclass to invite Zhang Yimou, Jury President of Tiantan Award this year, as the keynote speaker. 

Zhang Yimou, Chinese director, one of the representatives of the fifth generation of Chinese directors, honorary doctorate at Boston University and Yale University, and distinguished professor at Beijing Film Academy.

He was enrolled in the Department of Cinematography, Beijing Film Academy, in 1978. And he was assigned to work at the Guangxi Film Studio after graduation in 1982. Zhang debuted as a cinematographer in the One and Eight (1984), and won the title of Outstanding Chinese Cinematographer. He debuted as a leading actor in the Old Well (1986) and won the Best Actor at the 2nd Tokyo International Film Festival. His directorial debut Red Sorghum (1987) won the Golden Bear Award at the 38th Berlin International Film Festival, China's very first international film festival award. Hence the three stages of his filmmaking career, from cinematographer to actor and then director. His directorial works, namely the Red Sorghum, Ju Dou, Raise The Red Lantern, The Story of Qiu-Ju, Not One Less and The Road Home, between 1987 and 1999 won multiple awards at home and abroad, including three nominations for the Academy Awards and five nominations for the Golden Globes. Zhang started directing commercial films from 2002 on, such as the Hero, House of Flying Daggers, Curse of the Golden Flower and The Flowers of War, which set new gross box office records of China twice, and earned the highest annual gross box office of Chinese films four times.

　　Zhang Yimou at the Closing Ceremony of the 12th Beijing International Film Festival

He once served as Jury President of the 18th Tokyo International Film Festival and Jury President of the 64th Venice International Film Festival. In 2008, he served as the Creative Director of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Olympic Summer Games Beijing 2008 as well as the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. In 2015, he directed the Hollywood film The Great Wall. He was appointed the Director of the G20 Summit Evening Gala held in Hangzhou in 2016. He directed the comedy Full River Red in 2023 which topped the box office during the Spring Festival.

Chen Luyu, renowned media personality and program hostess. She planned and hosted talk shows, such as A Date with Luyu and Through the Years, and worked as the chief planner and mentor of speaking competition reality shows, such as the Super Speaker and I am a Speaker.