The 15th Beijing International Film Festival is set to feature a special screening program commemorating the 80th anniversary of the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War.

(Clockwise from top left) Stills from "The Zone of Interest," "The Thin Red Line," "Above the Drowning Sea," "The Burmese Harp," "Downfall," and "Shoah," which will be presented during the 15th Beijing International Film Festival. [Images courtesy of the BJIFF Organizing Committee]

The screenings are part of this year's Beijing Film Panorama, an annual program that showcases nostalgic classics, new releases and films not previously screened in China. The event is popular with both fans and industry professionals.

The first ticket sold during Monday's presale was for Jonathan Glazer's "The Zone of Interest" (2023), which won the Academy Award for best international feature at the 2024 Oscars. The film explores themes of complicity through its depiction of a Nazi officer's family living next to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

The film is part of the special "Cinema and Peace" program at the festival. "As we mark the 80th anniversary of the victory in the World Anti-Fascist War, we are launching this themed program. Spanning generations, these films ring the bell of world peace through cinema," said Lin Siwei, deputy head of the China Film Archive, deputy director of the China Film Art Research Center, and deputy secretary-general of the BJIFF Organizing Committee.

Twelve films will be screened, including several rarely seen in China that have been newly restored in 4K. Among them is Leopold Lindtberg's "The Last Chance" (1945), which won both the international peace award and best feature film at the 1946 Cannes Film Festival. The film follows an American and a British soldier who escape from a Nazi train in wartime Italy and lead a group of refugees to Switzerland. The Swiss Embassy in China provided copyright and archival support for the screening.

Claude Lanzmann's "Shoah" (1985), the landmark 9.5-hour Holocaust documentary, is featured in the program and will screen alongside the Asian premiere of Guillaume Ribot's 2025 documentary "All I Had Was Nothingness," which examines Lanzmann's commitment to creating "Shoah."

Other notable films in the lineup include Terrence Malick's Golden Bear-winning "The Thin Red Line" (1998), adapted from James Jones' novel about the World War II Guadalcanal campaign; Oliver Hirschbiegel's "Downfall" (2004), which chronicles Hitler's final days through the perspective of his secretary Traudl Junge; Kon Ichikawa's "The Burmese Harp" (1956), about a Japanese soldier who becomes a Buddhist monk after the war; and Larisa Shepitko's "Wings" (1966), a portrait of a Soviet World War II pilot.

The selection also features Sam Peckinpah's "Cross of Iron" (1977), Kazuo Hara's documentary "The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On" (1987), and Luuk Bouwman's 2024 documentary "The Propagandist."

The program includes "Above the Drowning Sea" (2017), a documentary by Rene Balcer and Nicola Zavaglia about Jewish refugees who found sanctuary in Shanghai during World War II. The film highlights the role of Chinese diplomat Ho Feng Shan, who defied the Nazis and his own government to provide visas to refugees. Told from the perspectives of both the refugees and the Chinese people who sheltered them, the documentary offers a reflection on solidarity in times of crisis.

The Beijing International Film Festival will run from April 18 to 26, featuring a range of activities, including forums, masterclasses, film pitching sessions and the Tiantan Award.

This year's Beijing Film Panorama will present 18 thematic sections, showcasing nearly 300 international films across about 900 screenings at 33 venues in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Venues include commercial theaters, arthouse cinemas and various cultural spaces.

Other main screening segments include a centennial tribute to director Robert Altman, along with films by Jiri Menzel, Andrei Tarkovsky and the late David Lynch.

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