The 16th Changchun Film Festival (CCFF) opened in Changchun, the capital of northeast China's Jilin province, on Tuesday night. The event will play host to various activities and award competitors in the coming days.

Founded in part by the Changchun Film Studio, the film festival was first held in 1992, making it one of the oldest major Chinese film festivals, and is the first national-level film festival named after a Chinese city. Before 2020, it was a biennial international film festival, but as of this year, the organizers readjusted it to become an annual event to further boost the local film industry and related businesses. This edition of the festival is themed "New Era • New Cradle • New Power" and aims to cultivate a new generation of Chinese filmmakers and boost the influence of Chinese film.

The local Changchun Film Studio, founded on Oct. 1, 1945, has produced more than 900 feature films and dubbed 1,000 foreign films, giving it the title "the cradle of modern China's film industry." The studio is the birthplace of the People's Republic of China's first feature film, first short film, first animated film, and first documentary, as well as a series of mainstream classics familiar to generations of Chinese audiences, including the war epic "Heroic Sons and Daughters," "The White-Haired Girl," "Thirteen Princess Trees," and "Lucky Dog."

Han Jun, Jilin provincial governor, noted at the opening ceremony of the festival that this year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and also the beginning year of the 14th Five-Year Plan period and the beginning of the new journey. "To pay tribute to the CPC's glorious birth and highlight the themed characteristics of 'century, cradle, ice, and snow' through a selection of excellent films, the festival eulogizes the Party, the motherland, the people, and the new era. We'll help tell Chinese stories and deliver the voice of China to the world."

This year, 16 Chinese films shortlisted from 133 submissions, including China's recently crowned highest-grossing film "The Battle at Lake Changjin," as well as other critically acclaimed blockbusters and mainstream movies like "Hi, Mom," "Chinese Doctors," "A Writer's Odyssey," "1921," "Cliff Walkers," "My People, My Homeland," "My Country, My Parents," "Leap," and "Sister," will join the race for 10 prizes of the festival's coveted Golden Deer Award. 

Chinese director Yin Li chairs the seven-member jury, which includes Hong Kong-based Stanley Tong, actors Pan Hong and Liu Zhibing, scriptwriter Li Qiang, composer Shu Nan, and cinematographer Zhang Xigui. 

Yin and his fellow jurors met the press before the opening gala. He said Changchun is the source of the Chinese film industry, and when they return to visit the Changchun Film Studio, they are amazed by the past classics and highlights in Chinese film history that it is home to. "This legacy and spirit will inspire our future," Yin stated. 

Yin added the film industry's growth and development and the progress of its industrialization over the past decade is unprecedented around the world, and China shall continue to strengthen its cultural power and influence. "One day, when Chinese films are shown in commercial theaters all around the world and tell Chinese people's struggle and emotion, that will be the real testament that we are big and strong enough. It is then that we shall not only rely on box office revenue, but our film industry can have an entire industry chain, from copyrighting merchandising to theme parks. We have great potential and space to develop, and that's the direction we Chinese filmmakers shall strive for."

The 16th Changchun Film Festival, sponsored by China Media Group and the Jilin provincial government and organized by the local Changchun municipal government, will be held from Dec. 21-25. 

The film festival will also exhibit 43 films in screening sections with various themes, including Chinese comedies, revolutionary film classics, women's films, domestic sci-fi films, and films with ice and snow elements, designed to celebrate the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics 2022, as well as matching the city's ice-snow cultural tourism to its northeasterly geographic location. A new film about a ski athlete at the festival, "Snow Dance," directed by Yip Waiman and starring Han Geng, Jiang Wu, and Wu Jing, was selected as the opening film of the festival and will debut nationwide in January next year.

Two summit forums – one looking back to the past glories and the future of Chinese films, and the other about nurturing Chinese film talents – will be held during the festival. Over 200 other cultural events, including film-themed concerts, exhibitions, and other screenings and performance activities, will be open to movie fans and the general public during the event.

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