Source: FIRST Youth Film Festival
The story began on December 1 last year, when the competition began, we thought that there was enough time for the film to be ready for delivery and review. At that time, no one expected that the turbulent reality of 8 months would hit the filmmakers with such a force that would be difficult to resist even if they exhausted their full strength.
On April 30, Beijing officially lifted the quarantine, and the competition ended on the same day. The preliminary judges entered the high-density screening mode, and appeared in the organizing committee with the access card more and more lightly, and the screen of the screening room was lit up day and night. We are with the city, with the piping hot new works, with the people who breathe with the film, to the next stage.
According to the "Report on the Competition of the 14th FIRST Youth Film Festival": This year's competition unit received a total of 895 film entries, and 643 films were validly registered to enter the judging process. Among them, there are 100 feature films, 73 documentary feature films and 470 short films. Some domestic films, after maintaining the trend of increasing the number of deliveries for several years, have decreased by 36% this year compared with last year, and for the first time in 5 years, they have fallen below 700.
The impact of the epidemic on film production is not insignificant. Throughout the filming cycle, the number of films changed in december, January and February from the beginning of the year to a similar trend as the same period of the previous year. However, there was a turning point in March, the number of films submitted decreased significantly, and the number of feature films produced in February fell to the bottom, indicating that the epidemic had a direct impact on production links such as shooting interruptions and post-production shutdowns. On the other hand, the cancellation, postponement, and onlineization of large-scale international film festivals, as well as the complete suspension of theaters across the country, disrupted the film's plans for film festival premieres and online distribution. In previous years, a large number of student works in the FIRST short film section could not be completed as scheduled due to the postponement of the start of the school year.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > preliminary working group</h1>
Feature film
Hu Shuzhen, an editor, has served as an editor in "Beijing Meets Seattle", "Whistleblower", "Bursting Silence" and so on.
Wang Feifei is a director, screenwriter and curator. His feature film debut, "The Return of the Sun," was shortlisted for the San Sebastian International Film Festival.
Yu Yaqin is a film critic, media personality and curator with a long-term focus on documentaries, independent films and women's films.
documentary
Liu Rui, who worked at the CNEX Documentary Foundation and the China Touring Exhibition Office of the Banff Mountain Film Festival, has participated in the production and distribution of projects such as "Young Zhao", "Look at", "Plastic Kingdom" and so on.
Liu Xin, documentary filmmaker, producer and editor, edited the work "Virtual Your Life" won the Grand Jury Prize of the South by Southwest Competition, and directed the first battlefield documentary film "Blue Line" in China in 2018, which will be released nationwide in 2020.
Mother and Son Jian, documentary filmmaker and producer, won the American Student Academy Award for his work "Du Sheng" and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film.
short
Wu Linfeng, director, short film work "White Bird" was shortlisted for the short film competition unit of the 63rd Berlin Film Festival, and the feature film work "Spring Blossoms" was shortlisted for the forum unit of the 66th Berlin Film Festival and the competition unit of the 13th FIRST Film Festival.
Zhao Zuxiang, director, short film work "Examination" was shortlisted for the Sundance Short Film Competition and was nominated for Best Short Film at the FIRST Youth Film Festival.
Zhu Yantong is an independent animation director, picture book author, curator, and artistic director of Fenach Beijing Animation Week. The animation work "The Calf in the Cup" has won international awards such as the KROK International Animation Festival Grand Prize and the Stuttgart Youth Animation Award.
Throughout the feature film, there are mature production teams and independent temperament and small-cost works with different characteristics. Yu Yaqin wrote in the review notes: "What is obvious is the improvement of technical means and the increase in the degree of industrialization, on the one hand, it increases the watchability of these films, but it also damages the author's experimental and critical spirit." Small-cost works are more sincere and more pioneering. ”
Local culture and consciousness have taken on a new form of image: "Life in the South does not just appear as a landscape, but becomes the fabric of cinema." "Just some works that reflect social problems, the real soil is slightly thinner, and it lacks the real dilemma setting and insight into the dilemma."
The care and reflection on reality also presents a similar situation in the context of the documentary. Liu Xin said bluntly: "The regional and socio-cultural environment in which the creators live is relatively scattered, and the topics form a pre-modern, modern and post-modern China, which has strong practical significance. In terms of creative style, the overall company has got rid of the shooting method of 'fly on the wall' and the mainstream 'real movie', and has shown a trend of diversified exploration in style. However, the overall perception is less of a pungent reflection on the system and society, and young creators mostly start from the perspective of individuals to show the world they understand. ”
In the field of short films, the quality and quantity of animated short films are particularly prominent. Zhu Yantong said in his notes: "Paper-cutting, felt, sand, hand-drawn and other materials are applied to animated short films, abstracting and refining the objective world with the dynamics produced by hand, adding a tactile dimension and imagination space to the content." Many animation works with narrative elements refer to the language of the film in large quantities, and even the use of virtual cameras, the deformation of character modeling and the reconstruction of performance rhythms, which give the work an unrealistic absurdity. ”
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > review working group</h1>
Gu Tao, a documentary filmmaker, won the Jury Prize in the Documentary Competition Section of the Hong Kong International Film Festival, the Best Documentary Nomination at the Golden Horse Film Festival, and the Ogawa Shunsuke Award at the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival in Japan.
Huang Ji, director, screenwriter and producer, won the Special Jury Prize of the New Generation Competition Section of the Berlin International Film Festival, the FIRST Best Art Exploration Award, and "Eggs and Stones" won the Golden Tiger Award of the Rotterdam International Film Festival in the Netherlands.
Liu Lu, screenwriter and director, drama representative works "Bald Singer", "If I'm Not Me", film masterpieces "Donkey Get Water", "Half a Comedy".
Wang Xiaolu, film critic and curator, is engaged in the research of Chinese film history and culture, and has published works such as "Film Will", "Film Politics", and "Film and the Disease of the Times".
Zheng Jing, producer, participated in the financing, production and publicity of films such as "Breathless", "King of Beijing", "Floating City on the Sea", "Don't Tell Her" and other films, "Floating City on the Sea" premiered in the world at the Sundance International Film Festival and won the Special Jury Award.
The three-day preliminary review meeting decided on the list for re-election, and the review began in late May. The recurrence of the epidemic in Beijing forced the review meeting on June 23 to be changed to a video link, and the five judges decided on the shortlist of the 14th FIRST Youth Film Festival competition. Among the shortlisted films, 100% of the feature film + documentary premiere, the world premiere + Asian premiere, more than 95%, and the proportion of debut films exceeded 60%. They will travel to Xining to reach the audience and compete for ten competition honors.
The shortlisted films surfaced, and the lineup of the competition jury was announced.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > jury</h1>
Chairman of the Jury
Chen Kexin
Famous director, producer, leading figure in Chinese films, Oscar judge. Chan has over 30 years of film and television career in Hong Kong, mainland China, other parts of Asia and Hollywood. As a director, he has created a large number of works with both artistic expression and commercial vision, and continues to pay attention to social reality, including "Sweet Honey", "If Love", "Chinese Partner", "Dear" and "Win the Championship". He participated in the "July and Ansheng" and "Like You" as a supervising producer, and his excellent reputation and market performance, which were deeply loved by young audiences. He has served as a jury member for several film festivals including the Venice Film Festival, the Beijing Film Festival and the Macau Film Festival.
Jury and Committee Members
Cao Fei
artist. International biennials and triennials include the Shanghai Biennale, the Moscow Biennale, the Taipei Biennale, the 15th and 17th Sydney Biennales, the Istanbul Biennale, the Yokohama Triennale, and the 50th, 52nd and 56th Venice Biennales. In 2016, Cao Fei held his first solo exhibition at MoMA PS1 in New York. Recent projects include a solo exhibition at the Grand Kwun Museum of Art in Hong Kong and a retrospective of the K21 Art Gallery in Düsseldorf in 2018, as well as a solo exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in June 2019, an augmented reality art project by APPLE and the New Art Museum in New York in August, and a solo exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery in London in 2020. In 2010, Cao Fei was nominated for the "Hugo Boss Hugo Bosch Art Award" and the "Future Generation Art Award". In 2006 and 2016, he won the "Best Young Artist" award and the "Best Artist Award" of the "CcAA Award for Chinese Contemporary Art". In 2016, he was awarded the "Piedra de Sal Award" at the Cuenca Biennale.
Hao Lei
actor. In 2009, he starred in the film "Silver Empire" and won the Best Film Award at the 29th Hawaii Film Festival. In 2010, her starring film "The Fourth Painting" won the Best Supporting Actress Award at the 47th Golden Horse Awards. In 2012, she was nominated for the cannes film "The Mystery of the Floating City" in a kind of attention unit of the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Golden Horse Award for Best Actress. In 2014, he starred in the movie "Dear". In 2019, the film he starred in, "Spring Tide", was nominated for Best Feature Film at the 13th FIRST Youth Film Festival.
Kong Jinlei
Editing instructions. Since 1997, he has participated in more than 30 films as an editing director. In 2012, he served as a judge of the 49th Golden Horse Awards. In 1999, his editing work "Rhapsody of Spring" was nominated for Best Editing at the 19th Golden Rooster Awards. In 2009, he was nominated for Best Editing at the 46th Taiwan Golden Horse Awards for "Bullfighting". In 2014, he won the Best Editing Award at the 51st Taiwan Golden Horse Awards for "Tuina". His main works are: "Kara is a Dog", "Warm", "Platform", "Three Gorges Good People", "Later Us", "The Party at South Station".
Liu Heng
Writer, screenwriter. His works include the novels "Food of Dog Day", "Black Snow", "Ode to Escape", "White Vortex", "Little Stone Mill", "Educational Poems", film scripts "Honmei Nian", "Ju Dou", "Assembling Number", "Jinling Thirteen Chao", "My War". He has won many domestic and foreign awards, including the 1st Lu Xun Literature Award, the Beijing Literature and Art Award, the Lao She Literature Award, the 18th Golden Eagle Award for Best Screenwriter, the 21st Feitian Award for Outstanding Screenwriter, the 35th Vajadolide International Film Festival "Golden Spike Award" and the 63rd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film Nomination.
Zhang Ming
Film director, screenwriter, producer, professor of the Directing Department of Beijing Film Academy. In 2020, he wrote and directed the film "Hot Soup" (in post-production). "Pluto Moment" was selected for the Directors' Bi-Weekly Section of the 2018 Cannes International Film Festival. The films "The Bride", "The Result" and "Whispers pick up the hour" have been shortlisted for film festivals in Tokyo, Busan, Berlin, Los Angeles, Rotterdam, Seoul, Paris, Hong Kong International Film Festival and other film festivals. "Dean Daddy" was selected for the 2007 Huabiao Award for 7 Outstanding Digital Films in Chinese Films. In 1996, his film directorial debut "Wushan Clouds and Rain" was selected for the Berlin Film Festival, the New York Film Festival, the San Francisco Film Festival, etc. and won eight first prizes at international film festivals such as Busan, Turin and Vancouver.
Zhao Nan
Sound guidance. He is a national first-class sound recordist, a member of the Chinese Filmmakers Association, a member of the Oscar jury, and a member of the M.P.S.E. American Film Sound Editors Association. His representative works "Di Renjie's Empire of Heaven", "Painted Skin 2", "Hypnosis Master", "Soul on the Leather Rope", etc., have won the Best Sound Award and Nomination Award of many awards such as the Golden Rooster Award of Chinese Film, the Hong Kong Film Award, the Golden Horse Award of Taiwan Film, the China Film and Television Technology Society Award, etc., and in 2018, he served as the sound director for Zhang Yimou's "Shadow" and won the Best Sound Award at the 13th Asian Film Awards.
The jury, chaired by director Chen Kexin, continues the tradition of the festival taking into account multiple positions and perspectives, and the jury includes artist Cao Fei, actor Hao Lei, editing director Kong Jinlei, screenwriter Liu Heng, director Zhang Ming, and voice director Zhao Nan.
In this special era of chaos, what wonderful ideas will the judges come up with? What do you think of creators who are not afraid to express themselves?
The main visual poster of the 14th FIRST Youth Film Festival
They are scarce, but never absent.