Text: Wei Ying
Many famous directors have already begun to create short films when they were students, and the eclectic explorations of their student years have laid the foundation for their later directorial careers. Therefore, college students' works have always been the starting point for many young filmmakers' creations, and the college student film festival selects outstanding original works every year, which also provides a steady stream of creative seeds for Chinese film festivals.
These excellent original works show the creative concepts, image attitudes, and perspectives of contemporary college students and young filmmakers.
Recently, the 31st College Student Film Festival was successfully held, which lasted for several months, and the 24th International College Student Original Film Competition, the 10th Youth Outstanding Script Selection, the 2024 College Student Film Critics Selection and the International Youth Dance Video Competition collected more than 1,600 film works, nearly 800 script works, more than 600 film review works, and more than 100 dance video works. After the preliminary evaluation of nearly 100 college students, as well as the final evaluation of professional judges from academia and industry, a total of 28 films, 55 film reviews, 20 scripts, and 17 dance video works were honored.
Image source: University Student Film Festival (the same below)
On the afternoon of April 28th, the "College Students' Original Night" honorary awarding and screening event was held in Tongniu Film Industrial Park, where 120 honor winners, many guests from the film and television industry and academia, as well as a number of finalists and audiences gathered together to watch the wonderful films of original films. From these excellent works, we seem to see the new stars in the future film industry, who may become the next Ning Hao, Bi Gan, and Wen Muye, injecting new vitality and creativity into Chinese films.
The cradle of incubating film and television talents
The college student film festival has gone through 30 years, from 1993 to the present, the college student film festival adheres to the tenet of "youth passion, academic taste, cultural awareness", adheres to the characteristics of "college students run, college students watch, college students evaluate, college students shoot", and has become the cradle of incubating many film and television talents.
The theme of this year's college student film festival is "Light gives birth to all things, and a new chapter of shadow painting". On the opening night of April 20th, the theme promotional film of the 31st Beijing International Film Festival and the 31st College Student Film Festival made a wonderful appearance, taking the time and space journey of a modern youth as a clue, taking the audience back to the Daguanyuan Film and Theater Garden in 1933, and then witnessing Huang Jianxin's "Stand Straight, Don't Lie Down" with the past college students in 1993, and finally return to the modern 3D film era. This series of traversal and retrospection not only vividly shows the development process of film art over the past century, but also opens a vibrant prelude to this college student film festival.
The festival began to launch the light and shadow youth film screening from April 21, and successively held the "Film and Television Cultural Tourism to Help Industrial Upgrading" forum, "Environmental Image: From Record to Enlightenment" forum, the International Youth Dance Video Forum, and jointly held the Young Filmmakers Forum and the Youth Film Critics Forum with the Beijing International Film Festival.
On April 28, at the "College Students' Original Night", Ding Yaping, chairman of the original short film review committee, delivered a speech as a representative of the judges: " Since the 15th College Student Original Film Contest in 2014, I have participated in the review work for 11 years, in the selection process of this year's original works, I have several common feelings with the judges, one is that the original works of contemporary college students are more thoughtful and connotative, we have seen everyone's reflection of real life, but also felt everyone's innovative imagination of new methods and new content; The form, theme and content are more diverse, the typology is richer, and the internationalization is more prominent. ”
Shan Dandan (director of "Galaxy Writer"), the "Original Image Recommendation Officer" of this year's College Student Film Festival, also said: "In this film festival, I have seen young creators create one short film after another full of imagination and deep meaning with full enthusiasm and abundant inspiration, covering a variety of themes, showing the unique perspective and profound insight of young students into life. I have seen the continuous collision and integration of originality, storytelling and expressiveness, and witnessed the thinking vitality and creative potential of young students in this era. I look forward to the light of young creators who will brighten up the future of cinema. Finally, I would like to send you the message of "Galaxy Writer", that is: as a writer, look up to the Milky Way. ”
This year's College Student Film Festival "Youth Fellow Traveler" is played by actor Hu Xianxu. Hu Xianxu's fate with the Grand Film Festival began as early as 2021, when Hu Xianxu, who studied in the 2018 Performance Department of the Central Academy of Drama, participated in hosting the Beijing International Film Festival and the 28th College Student Film Festival "Youth Night", and this year, Hu Xianxu's film "Journey Through the Moon" was nominated for the Best Film Award at the Temple of Heaven Award at this year's Beijing Film Festival.
Through the video, Hu Xianxu also sent his message to young filmmakers: "Movies are the book of youth, engraved with the memory of youth, and movies are the mirror of the times, reflecting the voice of the people. At the University Student Film Festival, with our infinite love and expectation for film, we inject youthful passion, academic taste and cultural awareness into the depths of each frame. I am willing to walk side by side with college students across the country to witness the charm of Chinese films and feel the spectrum of the times. ”
A young filmmaker looking up to the Milky Way
Inspired by many veterans in the film industry, young filmmakers come to the University Student Film Festival to showcase their hard work through this platform, whether it is young screenwriters, directors, actors, or behind-the-scenes editing, photography and audio-visual sound production, they have created films with different styles in their own way. Some profoundly reveal the relationship between people and society, some tell stories of human nature affectionately, and some boldly explore the boundaries of dance and film language.
The 24th International College Student Original Film Competition consists of four thematic units: feature films, documentaries, animated short films, and experimental short films, and a total of 115 works were shortlisted after the preliminary evaluation by 100 student judges from colleges and universities across the country. In the end, after a fair, just and serious selection by famous experts, scholars and young directors, a total of 7 honors were awarded, including Best Feature Film, Best Animation and Best Documentary.
The Best Film in the Feature Film Unit won the Best Film Award for "Nong Goes to the River", "Dream in the Dust" won the Best Director Award, "Mysterious Her" won the Best Screenplay Award, "Visitors from the Sea" won the Best Cinematography Award, and "Four Sacrifices and Six Ways" won the Best Editing Award.
In the Animated Short Film category, Olympia, the best animated short film, won the first prize with its unique creativity and production standards. Experimental short films such as "Ants", "Dust", "Sea of Memory", "Eggs" and "Circus at Dusk" were all shortlisted and recognized. The best honors in the documentary category went to "The Things We Didn't Talk About" and "The Great Artist", which won praise from the judges and audiences for their profound themes and excellent production.
At the original night, Xu Zhilei, the director of "Those Things We Didn't Talk About", said: "This film is a very simple film, filmed an intimate conversation in our family, and the whole filming process healed me to a great extent. I hope that everyone can insist on finding strength in real images and finding themselves in real images. ”
In addition to the selected film works that have been produced, the college student film festival also selects the outstanding young scripts presented in the form of words. Nearly 800 works were received in this year's Youth Outstanding Script Selection, of which 32 works were selected for the finals. After the final review by expert teachers, 20 works finally won the best honor work, the most potential script, excellent creative script, creative encouragement and other honors, among which the best script honors were "Late Night Mover" and "The First Leader".
The 2024 College Student Film Critics Selection highlights the characteristics of "College Student Reviews" and is committed to motivating college students to pay attention to and love Chinese films. More than 600 works were received in this year's film review, and a total of 79 works were selected, including 39 in the undergraduate group and 40 in the graduate group. Many young students have carried out their own analysis and interpretation of the works of young domestic directors, such as "The Dialectic of Enlightenment of the Modern Working Class: On the Critical Dimension of the Film 'The Annual Meeting'!" and "The Editorial Department of Cosmic Exploration from the Semiotic Perspective: Truth, Likeness, Poetry and Infinite Derivation" and other works.
Contemporary college students do not limit the breadth of thinking because of their age, but have developed a multi-dimensional artistic and philosophical interpretation of current film works. This spirit is just like the theme conveyed in the forum of young filmmakers and young film critics held by the University Student Film Festival and the Beijing International Film Festival - the prosperity of the film criticism ecology, which will feed back the creation of the film ecology and promote the continuous progress of the film industry.
Convey the concept of environmental protection and the art of dance through images
This year's festival also set up a special unit on environmental protection and dance, encouraging young students to use the power of images to spread the concept of environmental protection and express dance art, and enhance the public's awareness and participation in these two fields.
On the afternoon of April 22, the Beijing International Film Festival and the 31st College Student Film Festival "Environmental Image: From Record to Enlightenment" forum was held in Beijing Longfu Culture and Art Center.
If the combination of nature and image is a kind of concept communication, then the combination of dance and image is a kind of audio-visual enjoyment. Xiao Xiangrong, Dean of the School of Arts and Media, Beijing Normal University, said in his speech at the special unit of "International Youth Dance Video" on April 28, "We hope to provide a broader stage for young creators of film and dance, and we are especially looking forward to the youthful new ideas, new forces and new careers presented in the original works, so that the integration and innovation of dance and video art will become a sense of life." ”
More than 100 works were received in this year's "International Dance Video" special unit, and a total of 51 works were selected for the final round, including 10 dance VLOGs, 20 experimental dance videos, 4 dance films and documentary images, and 17 dance photography shortlisted for the final review. After the final review, a total of relevant honors such as the best international video, the best video, and the favorite dance vlog of college students were selected, and the award-winning works included "Breaking Stand", "She.She", "Baby Whispering", "Ants" and so on.
At the end of the original night, Sun Chengjian, deputy director of the Film and Television Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Arts, said in his speech: "I want to say to all young creators that film is the art of light and shadow, the art of emotion and dreams, which can transcend time and space, touch people's hearts, and convey emotions. I hope you will maintain your love for movies, capture every moment of life, record the times with your lens, express yourself with images, and expect you to always maintain your original intention and youthful motivation, express the spirit of the times with dance images, and convey truth, goodness and beauty. ”
This encouragement is not only an encouragement to young creators, but also the spirit of the University Student Film Festival for 30 years. It is expected that more young creators can shine on this stage, so that more outstanding filmmakers such as Ning Hao, Wen Muye, and Bi Gan will emerge in China's film industry.