VISUAL FEAST AHEAD
The upcoming Seventh Beijing International Film Festival offers around 500 films. Xu Fan reports.
The Chinese capital will soon see a flood of internationally acclaimed movies and global film talent thanks to the upcoming Seventh Beijing International Film Festival from April 16 to 23.
The organizers recently released a shortlist of 15 movies, which will vie for the 10 Tiantan Awards on offer.
Hu Dong, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, says that nearly 100 scholars, industry veterans and movie critics shortlisted the nominees after five rounds of selection.
He says the 15 nominated movies were selected from 424 films — all released after Jan 1, 2016 — from 59 countries and regions.
For local movie buffs, the two nominated Chinese-language movies are Operation Mekong, inspired by China’s hunt for a Myanmar drug ring that killed 13 Chinese sailors in 2011, and Mr No Problem, a satire based on Chinese literary giant Lao She’s 1943 namesake novel.
Operation Mekong has received high scores on major review sites and tasted commercial success, too, topping last year’s National Day holiday box-office charts.
Mr No Problem, however, has not been released for general viewing, but it has already impressed Chinese filmmakers after it took home two awards at Taiwan’s 53rd Golden Horse Film Festival.
Most of the other 13 nominated movies are from Europe — A Kid from France; House of Others, co-produced by Georgia, Russia, Spain and Croatia; and Tiger Theory, made by the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.
The seven-member international jury, led by Danish cinematic master Bille August, includes Hong Kong director Mabel Cheung, award-winning actress Jiang Wenli, American director Rob Minkoff and French actor Jean Reno.
August, who has two Golden Palm awards from Cannes and an Oscar for best foreign language film, has been working with Chinese studios on a World War II epic, Chinese Widow, since 2015.
The jury will arrive in Beijing on April 14 to watch the nominated movies, says Li Ran, head of the festival’s prize-selection department.
She adds that the shortlist and the jury were chosen carefully to give the “young” Beijing festival more heft globally.
“Beijing is the cultural hub of the country and probably has the largest number of arthouse movie fans. So we invited film talent, rather than stars, to be on the jury,” she says.
Li also says that Operation Mekong and Mr No Problem were chosen to give the world a glimpse of Chinese film’s vitality. The festival will also provide a visual treat for ordinary moviegoers. Around 500 movies from more than 100 countries and regions will be screened in 30 cinemas and colleges in Beijing during the festival. Around half of the movies are from abroad.
A series of high-profile forums and activities during the event will see many global insiders share their experiences.
The forums cover a wide range of topics — international coproductions, cutting-edge technologies, overseas distribution and film development under China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
A special section on documentaries will also be part of the festival. More than 220 domestic and foreign documentaries, including some award-winning titles from the Oscars, the Berlin International Film Festival and Sundance Film Festival, will form part of the section.
French director Jacques Perrin, who’s recently known for the documentary Seasons he co-directed with Jacques Cluzaud, will be the section’s honorary president.
Among the more celebrated foreign documentaries are Oscar nominee The Ivory
Games and Casting JonBenet, which is about the death of 6-year-old American beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey.
Some of the Chinese documentaries are Xinjiang, The Keriya, Master in Forbidden City, A Century with Cars and Born to Die.