Beijing Documentary Week comes to the capital in early August

The 2nd Beijing Documentary Week will kick off on Friday, bringing 54 selected documentaries and a series of exhibitions, seminars and cultural events to the capital, organizers announced at a press conference on Thursday.

Taking “A China Story for the World to See” as this year’s theme, the documentary week will present the changes China went through during the four decades after the country’s reform and opening up in 1978. Up to 44 documentaries selected from among thousands of works produced during 1978 to 2018 will screen at cinemas throughout the capital.

“Apart from domestic works, we are also bringing 25 award-winning works from other countries and regions that are rarely seen in domestic theaters, such as Japans’s Tokyo Idols,” Dai Wei, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, told the Global Times.

Additionally, hot social topics, such as the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and the country’s fight against poverty, will also be put under the spotlight during the cultural week.

Special sections and exhibitions, such as “Meet in Beijing 2022,” will be set up for the public to experience the changes the city has gone through in preparation for the upcoming international event and multi-media productions will show how the country’s efforts to relieve poverty have changed people’s lives.

Professional seminars in which experts and filmmakers from home and abroad gather will also explore and discuss the future and potential of China’s documentary industry on Saturday.

Beijing is a major power in the country’s documentary industry, being home to more than 60 documentary production studios and more than 2,000 professionals.