Beijing film fest opens with ambition

By Zhang Rui: 0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, April 17, 2013

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The 3rd Beijing International Film Festival kicked off at the Temple of Heaven Park in Beijing, April 16, 2013.

However awkwardly, all award candidates are old films from 2012, going against international film festival precedence, which requires that films vying for awards must be new and should make their world debut at the festival. The old film nomination list is disappointing and thus has already created less suspense for the results and make the film awards more like Oscars, which is a sum-up of last year, and less like Cannes and many other distinguished world film festivals.

Besides the competition section, organizers said Chinese audiences can enjoy over 260 film masterpieces, which were selected from 1,300 movies from 63 countries and regions, in 28 cinemas in Beijing during the festival. Ninety percent of the films were produced during the past two years. A large number of the foreign films, in particular, will be screened to Chinese audiences for the first time.

Most notable including Harry Potter franchise 8-episode marathon screening totaled nearly 20 hours, 2012 restoration of the historical masterpiece "Lawrence of Arabia" by David Lean and the Oscar's best foreign language film winner "Amour."

Academy Award winner "Silver Linings Playbook" was screened Tuesday afternoon as the opening film of Beijing Film Panorama of this year's film festival. The film was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director at the 85th Academy Awards. Jennifer Lawrence, the main actress of the film, won Best Actress at the 85th Academy Awards for her amazing performance in the film.

Zhao Zhiyong, deputy secretary-general of the festival, said, "One of the festival's aims is to bring the best films from around the world to local audiences."

The festival will also have a film market event to attract more than 200 domestic and overseas exhibitors including Industrial Light & Magic, IMAX, Technicolor and Base FX to display the latest developments in filmmaking technology. "The Best In Wo-Film Carnival" also opened at Olympic Park Tuesday morning. Most notably, for the first time, Special Effects Exhibit brings the most representative works such as "Avatar," "Hobbit," "Adventures of Tintin," "King Kong," "Zoro," and "Lord of the Ring" from the most influential special effects production companies including Weta Workshop to Beijing. They will provide Chinese visitors a barrier-free environment to experience well-known classic film designs for the first time.

The Project Pitches Program sees some of the most talented Chinese filmmakers submitting their film plans to senior insiders who will choose three projects for financial and technical support.

Filmmakers and industry veterans attending the festival include French director Luc Besson, who will sit with Zhang Hongsen, director of the State Film Bureau, to talk about international co-production. Keanu Reeves will come to promote his directorial debut, "Man of Tai Chi."

The 3rd Beijing International Film Festival will be held from April 16 - 23, 2013. It is one and the youngest of the three major film festivals in China, in addition to the Shanghai and Changchun festivals, which were founded in 1993 and 1992 respectively.