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On October 12, 1905, the Fifth Pingyao International Film Festival was grandly opened at the Pingyao Film Palace in the ancient city of Pingyao in Jinzhong, Shanxi, with directors Xie Fei, Xu Ke, Ding Yinnan, Li Shaohong, Zhang Yang, Ning Ying, Zhang Lu, Jiang Wei, Bi Gan, Han Jie, Gu Xiaogang, Liang Ming, Zheng Dasheng, Dong Runnian, Wang Jing, Li Dongmei, Li Ruijun, actors Duan Yihong, Wang Junkai, Huang Yao, Qi Xi, Zhou You, as well as film and television consultant Tan Kaili, artist Anna Isa Ma Tian, producers Ren Zhonglun, Huang Xing, Gu Xiaodong, Hao Wei, and Lei Jianjun , screenwriters Gu Xiaobai, Wu Nan, as well as Liu Xiaodong, Wu Tiaoren, Huang Dan, Yang Yuannian, Hongying, Lian Yirui, Ban Yu, Mei Xuefeng, Tao Taolin and other filmmakers and guests from all walks of life attended the opening special event and shared the film feast.
On the opening day, the Pingyao Film Festival was full of activities. The opening film "The Long Confession" held a press conference and made its world premiere in Pingyao; the three major jury of Roberto Rossellini, The Honor of Fei Mu and the Honor of Youth Judges appeared one by one and the honorary judges of the industry; the creators of the movie "Chosin Lake" appeared in the "Fan Carnival"; and the filmmakers gathered at the opening welcome and signing ceremony and opening special activities.
The opening special event opened with a song "Youth" by the North University Choir of China, paying tribute to the theme of the event, "New Youth, New Film, New Era". The theme short film "Ju" shows everyone's desire to get together in Pingyao, echoing the theme of this year's film festival. With the theme of "Gathering", this year's film festival hopes that everyone will gather in Pingyao to share each other's thoughts, share film experience and imagination from different regions, and share each other's confidence and love.
During the National Day holiday, Shanxi Province suffered a historically rare flood disaster, and the opening special event set up a special link "Let the world see Shanxi". Singer Guar Jiatong sang the flood song "For Whom" on the spot, and jointly "paid tribute to the villagers who fight the flood". In order to further support the disaster area, the chief partner of this year's film festival, Zhiwen Group, held a donation ceremony at the opening site, announcing that it would donate 10 million yuan to the disaster area in Shanxi, and the donation would be used for emergency material procurement, mass resettlement and post-disaster reconstruction. Tang Yan, chairman of the board of directors and founder of Zhiwen Group, said, "I believe that as long as we unite, we will certainly be able to overcome natural disasters." Jia Zhangke, founder of Pingyao International Film Festival, expressed his gratitude to the Group on behalf of Pingyao International Film Festival and the people of Shanxi.
Artistic Director Lin Xudong and Special Curator Wang Junkai jointly introduced the highlights of the films and film lists screened at this year's film festival. A total of 46 films from 32 countries and regions were screened at this year's film festival, with a global premiere rate of 32%, an Asian premiere rate of 71%, and a Chinese premiere rate of 100%, presenting a diversified film outlook, "based on today, facing the future". Subsequently, the major jury took the stage to deliver speeches, expressing their good wishes for the Pingyao Film Exhibition.
At the opening special event, the fourth generation director Xie Fei and the producer and director Xu Ke were awarded the "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon East-West Exchange Contribution Honor". When receiving the award, Xu Ke said, "After I came to Pingyao, I saw not only an ancient city, but also a vibrant and youthful film festival. I was very touched to remind me tonight that I was still a teenager of the year, and my original intention has not changed. I hope that all our colleagues in the film industry will work with our young directors to open up a wonderful and brilliant future for the Chinese film industry." Xie Fei held the trophy and said, "I think the film is the best cultural ambassador, and we must tell the world the Chinese story, Chinese history, Chinese, Chinese feelings." To make a good film, and to send it out, we must also see good foreign films and make the film a good communication tool. So I am also grateful for the recognition of this award, and also for the contributions of my students who have made greater contributions than me, and the generation is stronger than the next."
An honorable short film was played on the spot, reviewing the history of the master's film and paying tribute to the two filmmakers. Wu tiao, a popular band from Guangdong, sang four tracks on the spot: "Vietnam", "Cao Cao You Don't Be Afraid", "Beautiful and Beautiful, Handsome and Dashing", and "Little Girl Under the Street Lamp". Among them, "Vietnam" pays tribute to director Xu Ke, "Little Girl Under the Street Lamp" pays tribute to Xie Fei, using music and film to meet, accompanied by "Little Girl Under the Street Lamp", Xie Fei, Xu Ke, Li Shaohong, Jia Zhangke, Zhao Tao and other guests danced enthusiastically, adding new color to the opening special event. In addition, the "Pingyao Expectation" link selected five trailers to play live, including "Getaway" directed by Liang Ming, "Artist 1994" directed by Liu Jian, "Old Gun" directed by Gao Peng, "I Look Up to Find Two Identical Clouds" directed by Yan Yizhi, and "Ultimate Fight" co-directed by Yu Liwei and Wang Jing, which previewed a number of highly anticipated new films in the coming year, showing the filmmakers' new creative direction in the future.
At the end of the opening special event, Zhang Lu, director of the opening film "The Long Confession", and Xu Jiahan, producer, took the stage to meet with everyone. "The Long Confession" was premiered worldwide in Pingyao as the opening film, kicking off the prelude to the film screening of this year's film festival. "The Long Confession" is the first Chinese feature film shot by director Zhang Lu in ten years, showing the "mystery of love" that spans time and borders.
The 5th Pingyao International Film Festival will be held from October 12 to October 19, 2021. In the next ten days, there will be 46 films, 8 academic activities, and 37 short films participating in the "Pingyao Corner" to meet with everyone.
Founded in 2017, the Pingyao International Film Festival is held annually in the 2,700-year-old ancient city of Pingyao. The first four film festivals have been successfully held from 2017 to 2020. On the basis of the screening of excellent films from all over the world, the Pingyao International Film Festival pays special attention to discovering and actively promoting the excellent works of young directors in emerging and developing countries, providing a platform for these films to speak out, aiming to enhance the exchanges between filmmakers around the world, so as to activate and prosper the creation of world films.
Named "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", the Pingyao International Film Festival consists of four major sections of film screening, industry, academia and education, of which the film exhibition section includes Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Premiere, Review/Tribute and starting from Shanxi, and the industrial sector is composed of developing film plans, Pingyao venture capital, Pingyao venture capital and drama plans.