Arts     

Beijing Int'l Film Festival's dazzling opening

China.org.cn, April 24, 2012

• Celebrities walk the red carpet during the opening ceremony of the second Beijing International Film Festival, which kicked off Monday evening at the National Convention Center, in Beijing, April, 23, 2012. Over 260 films from across the globe will be screened during the festival, which will run at various venues across Beijing, from April 23 to 28. [By Zhang Rui/China.org.cn]

  The stunning opening of the second Beijing International Film Festival can somehow live up to the opening of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, though this particular event is paying tribute to film icons and memorable melodies.

  The festival officially kicked off on Monday evening, with an opening ceremony held at the National Convention Center.

  About 300 international filmmakers, industry executives, and movie stars, including Andy Lau, Zhang Ziyi, Tsui Hark, Feng Xiaogang, James Cameron and "The Avengers" star Jeremy Renner, walked the red carpet before the ceremony.

  The star-studded event gets huge support from authorities at both the national and capital levels, which may poses a threat to the well-established annual Shanghai International Film Festival, which is usually held in June and hands out awards.

  The second Beijing International Film Festival is an improved version on last year's. Even though last year's organization was a disaster and received much criticicism, the organizers had bigger ambitions this year and even upgraded the name of the fest from "season" to "festival."

  But the Beijing festival still doesn't give out awards to filmmakers. "We didn't have the time to prepare for this," Li Qiankuan, Chairman of China Film Association and Vice Chairman of the festival told China.org.cn, "We'll do it next year."

  Now the Beijing film festival is more like a carnival for movie fans. More than 260 films from across the globe, many of which have never been shown in China before, will be screened during the festival, which will run at various venues across Beijing, from April 23 to April 28.

  Aside from theater screenings, there are also exhibitions, a movie hi-tech experience zone, "Transformers" sculptures and free screenings in the Olympic Park area. Other events include several forums, seminars and film sales, to be attended by international filmmakers and big studio executives.

  The opening ceremony, with the help of breathtaking visual effects, lighting and fabulous dancers, singers, Peking Opera and acrobatic performers, pushed the event to the climax. Highlights included: superstar Wang Leehom singing a cover of the well-known theme song "As Time Goes By", from the Oscar-winning classic "Casablanca"along with the violinist Lu Siqing; 310 female dancers performing "Thousands of Hands and Thousands of Eyes"; Swedish musician Robert Wells and his bands performing classical scores such as the "Star Wars theme," "My Heart Will Go On," "Mama Mia" and "I Will Always Love You", a tribute to the late Whitney Houston.

  The ceremony was also a small victory party for James Cameron, to celebrate "Titanic 3D's" huge box office success in China, which made US$105.2 million in China (equal to the combined profits made on all other markets). The director was invited to stage to give a speech. "I think it's incredible. China is not only one of the most active economies globally, but is a fast growing world market right now! And they have embraced 3D!" he said.

  Several special awards were handed out on Monday night to the "Outstanding Contributor of the Film Industry in 2011", the "Outstanding Chinese Films on the Overseas Market in 2011", and the "Chinese Filmmaker Talent Scouts".

  The honor for "Outstanding Contributor" was given to veteran actor Li Xuejian, while the awards for "Outstanding Chinese Films in Overseas Market in 2011" went to 10 movies including "The Flowers of War" and the much acclaimed "A Simple Life." However, most of the Top 10 were once badly-reviewed or even plain box office disasters. Even the 2006 film "Prince of The Himalayas" was honored after 6 years. The organizers didn't elaborate on exactly how well they did on the overseas markets in 2011.

  The honor for "Chinese Filmmaker Talent Scouts", went to old Chinese film legends such as Wu Tianming, Zhang Renli, Xie Fei, Woo Sei En and Li Hsing.

  Guo Jinlong, Mayor of Beijing and Chairman of the festival, said in his speech at the ceremony that Beijing, the cradle of the first Chinese movie ever in history, possesses the biggest talent regarding the various aspects of film production, distribution and education. In addition to these, Beijing can boast the largest audience and most dynamic market. "We will try our best to boost the film industry's exchanges with the global industry and to contribute to global movie culture."

  The first Beijing festival was held from April 23 to April 28 last year, with 100 foreign and 60 domestic films being screened at 20 Beijing theaters.

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