The 13th Beijing International Film Festival is facing the world, gathering the best films from all over the world, and this year's "Temple of Heaven Awards" has selected 15 shortlisted films with different styles and themes, which can be said to be the most surprising treasure unit.
In previous years, the selection of films of the "Temple of Heaven Award" has accumulated a lot of reputation among enthusiastic fans, which not only affirms the quality of film selection, but also suggests that we need more dimensional space for discussion.
• Shortlisted film "Light of the White Tower"
There is no doubt that an international film festival that is still in its growth stage needs not only more diverse genre films, but also more professional and richer perspective film criticism. The Beijing International Film Festival set up its first publication in 2021, precisely to inject a deeper and three-dimensional interpretation into the film.
The venue part of the shortlisted films of this year's Beijing Film Festival "Temple of Heaven Award" also invited screenwriter Shu Huan, actor Wang Chuanjun and actor Ni Hongjie to jointly serve as the promoters of the shortlisted film magazine of the 13th Beijing Film Festival "Temple of Heaven Award".
In addition, the magazine also united with professional media professionals and film critics from 11 media, including China Film Report, Beijing Daily Yixiang, Beijing News Entertainment, 1905 Film Network, Universal Screen, Phoenix Network Film, Deep Focus DeepFocus, Pocket Film, as well as Lu Zhiyu, French Film and Wu Si Film, to score, interpret and publish film reviews on the shortlisted films of the "Temple of Heaven Award" with a more professional attitude, a more inclusive mentality and stricter standards.
The scoring criteria for commercial films are not single, and their scoring criteria for commercial films are to see the breakthroughs and innovations in the genre mode and narrative structure of the film, as well as the presentation and discussion depth of social issues; Art films are scored on the basis of their thinking on humanistic expression and their exploration of the boundaries of audiovisual language.
• Shortlisted film "Punishment"
Wu Si Film believes that the overall quality of the 15 shortlisted films is very good, and each has its own characteristics, among which it is surprised by the 86-minute film "Punishment", which was shot in a one-shot way to discuss a specific and extensive issue of female marriage and childbirth, and the actors' performances were extremely tense, layered and shocking.
• Shortlisted film "On the Same Road"
In addition, an interesting phenomenon was found, and the road elements, themes or genres of movies were more concentrated, such as "Look at the Bridge", "Wonderful Journey", "On the Same Road", "Punishment" and "Goodbye"! Buenos Aires", the choice of staying in the original city or family became a common theme.
Among them, the French film "Graceful Journey" tells the story of two people with different identities, classes and ages meeting in a taxi, and a professional driver facing financial crisis talks about life with a 92-year-old elegant woman, looking back on the past, even if life is difficult and time is fleeting, they can still find a trace of resonance and briefly dissolve the loneliness of the individual.
• Audience comments
In addition, female elements and related issues accounted for more than ever in the shortlisted films in this year's main competition unit, and films such as "Until the Branches Bend", "Totem", "Sisters" and "Disappearing Her" are all involved in this issue at different levels and depths, although the focus is different, but they are all expressed.
Just as Sophie Jarvis's Canadian film "Until the Branches Bend" has been recognized by many audiences, female films made by female directors often have personal observation and accurate analysis, 16mm film brings an external retro texture to the film, and the film has internal stylized innovation.
• Audience comments
As a promoter of the publication, Shu Huan believes that his evaluation criterion is whether the film can inspire the audience and give Chinese films something different. He hopes that there will be more films that will touch the audience, help us think about the future of Chinese films, and what strategies should be adopted to support some fresh and expressive films.
Among them, the new director Linda Ault's first feature film "Sisters" received good feedback, and the media viewing group gave an average score of 3.9, coincidentally, it was this one that impressed Shu Huan's teacher and film critic Wu Hiss movie.
Linda Ault originally planned to shoot a documentary, and finally chose to present the work in a style closer to documentary, using handheld photography extensively, shaking lenses to build an unbreakable barrier, shadows, and finally a stable follow-up long shot, free like the wind, but without direction.
Teacher Shu Huan believes that the biggest advantage of "Sisters" is that it is real, and it is "the truth of the characters".
• Shortlisted film "Sisters"
Usually in the early stage of watching the movie, the audience will always have a little unconscious sense of substitution for the characters, putting their own value judgments and moral criticism into it, but for excellent films, as the viewing progresses, the preconceived judgment will be weakened.
Extended from "Sisters", Mr. Shu Huan shared his creative experience, he will have self-requirements when writing characters, when he used to hold screenwriting meetings, planning meetings, or chat with the evaluation department, they often mentioned a question "Is this character cute", Mr. Shu Huan said that cuteness is never the criterion for judging whether a character is successful, the real standard should be true.
• Shortlisted film "Sisters"
Teacher Shu Huan believes that the characters portrayed in "Sisters" are very rebellious, and when this character tenaciously lives according to her own character logic, eventually you will understand her and even be touched by her. The real power is often huge, and it is also a correction of many of the current creative concepts, and he will continue to mention this example to his team in his future work.
"When the film is more and more market-oriented, it means that it will pursue more commercially, different from foreign countries, we do not have a real art theater, some foreign films will have financial support in all aspects, some films even if the project is not good enough, but can enter the video market, enter the new media market, enter the online platform, but Chinese films seem to fight the first week of box office in the end."
Speaking at the broader market level, Shu Huan expressed the limitations of his observations.
• Shortlisted film "Totem"
Teacher Shu Huan believes that many so-called literary films also have commercial value, and have never refused to be commercialized.
If the fate of a film is pressed on the box office in the first week, it will be difficult to return the investment of this play, and Shu Huan believes that this is not conducive to the eventual diversified development of the film, and young directors with thoughts and ideas will also be greatly restricted in this regard.
• Shortlisted film "Occasional Echo"
Film festivals exist essentially to keep audiences in love with film. Every year's Beijing Film Festival, although it is indispensable to complain, the audience can always protect this pure space belonging to the film with an inclusive attitude, and this understanding is helping the Beijing Film Festival to move towards a better and better future. At the same time, a more professional evaluation system will help to discover more diverse and excellent films, which is also a return to the audience and the film industry.
This year's Beijing Film Festival shortlisted films do have something, there have been fans suggested to add an audience choice award, want to vote for their favorite films, more and more fans will specialize in the main competition unit "treasure hunt", the Temple of Heaven Award shortlisted films to the audience impression is getting better and better, here I hope that the Beijing International Film Festival is better and better, gain more audiences, provide richer film selection, create fuller communication, all for the film, all for the audience who love movies.