The 2nd Batch of Films for the 6th BJIFF Unveiled: Beijing Panorama to Sing Ode of “Strength and Beauty”

　　This year’s BeiJing Panorama adheres to the goal of “Come to Beijing in the spring to see the best films in the world”. It will cooperate with 25 cinemas and 5 universities in Beijing, presenting nearly 1,000 screenings.

　　At present, the first batch of classic topics and film list have been unveiled at BJIFF’s official We-Chat public account, which include the classic science fiction film Alien series, Milkway Image memorial series, and film master Billy Wilder, as well as the memorial series for outstanding female stars from China, US and Japan such as Chen Yanyan, Marilyn Monroe, and Setsuko Hara.

　　On March 1st, the modular arrangement of this year’s Beijing Panorama was unveiled finally. The 400 plus Chinese and foreign films to be shown shall consist of about 20 theme units, which include both such hit units as mainstream focus, award-winners, and multiple perspectives, and such innovative arrangements as power of author, debut unit, and progressive image.  

　　Simultaneously, the second batch of films (mainly new films) have been unveiled, including such exciting foreign films as Oscar Adapted Screenplay winner The Big Short, Cannes Un Certain Regard Award winner Rams, Kinema Junpo Award winner The Lover, Berlin Best Debut Film Award winner 600 Miles, NBR Award Best Debut Film Mediterranean, hot animation film The Boy and The Beast, and such well-known domestic films as Tharlo, Kaili Blues, and River, as well as the opera film Carmen, Rickshaw Boy, and Norma in collaboration with National Grand Theater, and such on-site operas as Frankenstein, Coriolanus, Skylight, and The Audience in collaboration with the British National Theater. As a highly-anticipated unit of BJIFF—Classics Restoration has also revealed information for the first time. Father of American Films Griffith’s epic masterpiece Intolerance and the 3D version of The Last Emperor by the Italian film master Bernardo Bertolucci will be screened in Beijing this April. The first batch of films embodies BJIFF’s ambition of forging Beijing Panorama into a carnival for film fans, while the second batch of films fully displays its goal and plan of excavating new power, marching towards diversification, improving professional attributes, and enlarging international perspective. Undoubtedly, more surprises are waiting for us ahead.

　　Restoraion of Classics

　　The Last Emperor 3D (1987)

　　Director: Bernardo Bertolucci｜Cast: John Lone／Joan Chen／Peter O'Toole｜Italy／China／Britain／France

　　Runtime: 163 min｜Language: English／Mandarin／Japanese／Russian

　　In the movie, Pu Yi’s stories go on piece after piece. He was enthroned at the age of 3 and the landscape was only a meaningless word on his mind. When he grew up, he thought he could change it, but an eunuch set the court’s account books on fire; he thought his was the master of Qing Dynasty, but he was simply became a Japanese puppet. After liberation, he boarded a train back from Russia, with the Liberation Army escorting and monitoring him by his side. He speculated that he was bound to death, and attempted to suicide. However, he failed, unclear fate is waiting for him.

　　Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916)

　　Director: D.W. Griffith｜Cast: Mae Marsh／Robert Harron／F.A. Turner｜USA

　　Runtime: 163 min｜Language: English

　　The film consists of four totally uncorrelated stories: Mother and Law, Passion of the Christ, Massacre de la Saint-Barthélemy and The Spoils of Babylon. Although the stories are not related to each other, they all reflect a common theme: Pray for peace and oppose partisan.

　　First Sight

　　600Milles｜600Millas（2015）

　　Director: Gabriel Ripstein｜Cast: Tim Roth／Harrison Thomas｜Mexico

　　Runtime: 85min｜Language: English／Spanish

　　The hero smuggled guns for a deadly Mexican gangster. Hank, an ATF agent, was eyeing on him, but he gained the initiative and kidnapped Hank. Hurriedly stricken, he decided to bring Hank to see his boss. However, during the 600-mile’s journey, the relationship between these two became unusual gradually.

　　Partisan（2015）

　　Director: Ariel Kleiman｜Cast: Vincent Cassel／Jeremy Chabriel／Florence Mezzara｜Australia

　　Runtime: 94 min｜Language: English

　　Alexander loves to play like other children and he is full of curious and innocent. But he is also a trained killer, grew up in land of idyllic beauty. Alexander saw the entire world through his father, Greg. When Alexander began to think independently, a creepy sense of fear slowly appeared. The idyllic world that Greg set up for the children came into being.

　　The Here After | Efterskalv（2015）

　　Director: Magnus von Horn｜Cast: Sven Ahlstr?m／Mats Blomgren／Stefan Cronwall | Sweden／Poland／France

　　Runtime: 102 min｜Language: Swedish

　　After discharged from the prison and came back home, John wanted to begin his new life, but people in the community didn’t forget his crime of killing his ex-girlfriend. He became the people who was oppressed and pushed out by the whole community and the attitude of his old friends made him angry and almost crazy. He can’t forget all the past and has to face all by himself.

　　Mediterranea（2015）

　　Director: Jonas Carpignano｜Cast: Alassane Sy／Koudous Seihon／Paolo Sciarretta | Italy ／France / USA／Germany／Qatar

　　Runtime: 107 min｜Language:  French／Italian／English／Arabic

　　For a better life, the two men began a perilous journey from Africa to Italy. But firstly they had to face the turmoil of refugees struggle full of living, dying, hostility and violence.

　　The Teacher | Uchilka（2015）

　　Director: Aleksey Petrukhin｜Cast: Akmal Ablaev／Elizaveta Boyko／Anton Chechevichkin  | Russia

　　Runtime: 134 min｜Language:  Russian

　　A single gunshot broke the calmness at campus. A hopeless history teacher kidnapped all her students as hostages. However, this situation changed soon, because she became the hostage.

　　Kaili Blues（2015）

　　Director: Gan Bi｜Cast: Yongzhong Chen／Lixun Xie／Shixue Yu／Yue Guo｜China

　　Runtime: 110min｜Language: Guizhou dialect

　　In a mysterious humid subtropical village in the southeast of Guizhou Province, in a county clinic in foggy Carey, two doctors lived like ghost with a heavy heart. Chen Sheng set foot to find his brother’s abandoned child because of his mother's last wish; while another lonely old woman asked him to bring a photo, a shirt and a box of tapes to her sickly old lover. On the way to Zhenyuan County, Chen Sheng came to a place called DangMai, where time there was not linear, and people's lives were complementary and digested. It seemed that he had experienced the past, present and future, and started to rethink about his own life in a new way.

　　Child of the Steppe | Zud（2016）

　　Director: Marta Minorowicz｜Cast: Batsaikhan Budee／Sukhbat Batsaikhan｜German／Poland

　　Runtime: 85 min｜Language: Mongolian

　　Sukhbat, 11 years old, is on the shift period from childhood to the people who has to bear the burden of family. Besides helping to raise livestock, he is asked by his father to practice horse riding, singing when running and participate in the competition on behalf of his family.

　　Highlight

　　The Big Short (2015)

　　Director: Adam McKay｜Cast: Christian Bale／Steve Carell／Ryan Gosling｜USA

　　Runtime: 130 min｜Language: English

　　This film aimed the camera at the global financial in 2008, and tells the story of some discerning investors saw through the bubble illusion before the credit storm of US in 2007, benefited a lot from empty subprime CDS, and became the scarce great men for investment in the financial disaster.

　　Three Stories of Love（2015）

　　Director: Hashiguchi Ryosuke｜Cast: Atsushi Shinohara／Toko Narushima／Ryo Ikeda／Tamae Ando｜Japan

　　Runtime: 140min｜Language: Japanese

　　The film tells three ordinary love stories. Young and talented bridge inspectors Du are always in sorrow because his wife died unexpectedly three years ago; housewife Tong Zi, gradually became estranged from her husband, and always limited by her mother in law, changed her boring daily life after meeting the man who wanted her to invest the chicken factory; Shinomiya, a smug gay and elite lawyer, always self-satisfied, was pushed down the stairs by one of his colleagues one day…

　　Ram｜Hrútar（2015）

　　Director: Grímur Hákonarson｜Cast: Sigur?ur Sigurjónsson／Theódór Júlíusson｜Iceland／Denmark／Norway／Poland

　　Runtime: 93min｜Language: Icelandic

　　On a remote montanic farm in Iceland, there were a couple of brothers, who lived on sheep raising. An unexpected sheep acute communicable disease broke up the 40-year silence between the two brothers. For protecting their sheep, they became close to each other again...

　　The Boy and the Beast｜バケモノの子 (2015)

　　Director: Mamoru Hosoda｜Cast: K?ji Yakusho／Aoi Miyazaki / Sh?ta Sometani｜Japan

　　Runtime: 119 min｜Language: Japanese

　　In the world of The Son of the Monster, there was a new world outside the human world where lived the monsters. The border of the two was the Shibuya, which was called the Sky Street in the monsters’ world. One day, a young man went into the monsters’ world all on his own mistakenly and met a monster all on his own, too. Then the two began an adventure which was beyond imagination.

　　We Are Family（2015）

　　Director: Jim Wang｜Cast: Sandrine Pinna / Shu-Hao Chang / Shu-Hai Chao / Daniel Chen  | Taiwan

　　Runtime: 107 min｜Language: Mandarin  /  Min Nan

　　When the graduation was coming,  Wei Li, Da Pang, and Ya Ya were still confused about their future, their good friend Ka Ka who went to work in Australia during the holiday brought a new-born baby back. The hurry-scurry young men were forced to take the burden of taking care of a baby…

　　Auteurs

　　Peace to Us in Our Dreams（2015）

　　Director: Sharunas Bartas｜Cast: Sharunas Bartas｜Lithuania／France／Russia

　　Runtime: 102 min｜Language: Lithuanian

　　One day in summer, a man drove his daughter to the suburban with his lover on the weekend. The strained relations between the man and his lover made his 16 year-old daughter under the pressure of family crisis. She felt lonely and marginalized. So she lived in her own imagining world all day…

　　Tharlo（2015）

　　Director: Pema Tseden｜Cast: Shide Nyima／Yangshik Tso｜China

　　Runtime: 123min｜Language: Tibetan

　　The main character in this movie is a kind-hearted goatherd. Thallo wanted to serve the people. However, when he came to the city and met the girl he loved, the cruel reality broke up his pure ideals one by one.

　　Gtsngbo | River（2015）

　　Director: Sonthar Gyal｜Cast: Yangchan Lhamo／Guru Tsedan｜China

　　Runtime: 94min｜Language: Tibetan

　　Yang Jin who was over suckling period but still suckling was forced to wean after his mother’s second pregnant which made him feel confused. He felt that the love from his parents was losing, which made her quite upset. Yang Jin’s father, Ge Ri, was absent of love for that his father became a monk and he was quite unsociable and eccentric and not good at communicating and expressing love. So he couldn’t feel Yang Jin’s anxiety. The families loved each other deeply in their heart, but they were lack of communication. The world of three generations was separated by a river which made them lonelier. They had to grow up on their own, free themselves and face themselves.

　　National Theatre Live

　　Frankenstein（2011）

　　Director: Danny Boyle｜Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch／Jonny Lee Miller｜Britain

　　Runtime: 125min｜Language: English

　　It is adapted from Mary Shelley’s fiction novel of the same name in 1818. Mary Shelley is the British free poet Shelley's wife. After being adapted by the screenwriter Nick Thiel, the stage drama Frankenstein tells the well-known western science fiction story from the point of view of the "monster". Cumberbatch, the "Sherlock Holmes" of BBC version, will play the role of Dr. Frankenstein, and Johnny Lee Miller will play the role of “monster”.

　　The Audience（2013）

　　Director: Stephen Daldry｜Cast: Helen Mirren／Edward Fox｜Britain

　　Runtime: 173min｜Language: English

　　In the last 60 years, Queen Elizabeth II has meeting with every prime ministers at Buckingham Palace once a week. The meeting is different from ordinary meeting, it is private. Both sides have reached a tacit consensus that they never tell others the content of the meeting, even to their spouse. Summoned by The Queen broke this silence consensus by imagining the important meeting content between the queen and Downing Street incumbents.

　　Coriolanus （2014）

　　Director: Josie Rourke｜Cast: Tom Hiddleston／Mark Gatiss｜Britain

　　Runtime: 165min｜Language: English

　　When the former rival threatens Rome, the city calls her hero and escort Coriolanus once again. But he has enemies in his hometown, too. Famine threatened the city of Rome, the citizens’ hunger expand to the desire of revolution. Returning from the battlefield Coriolanus has to face the real political struggle and the voice from a group of angry people.

　　Skylight（2014）

　　Director: Stephen Daldry｜Cast: Carey Mulligan／Bill Nighy｜Britain

　　Runtime: 162min｜Language: English

　　An unexpected visitor knocks at the door of the middle school teacher, Kyra Hollis. It turns out to be her old lover Tom Sergeant, a successful charming catering industry tycoon. And his wife just died not long ago. As it becomes later and later in the night, a couple of old lover tempts to fan old flame, but they only find that they have already in two opposite world: even though they have the same desire toward each other, they stand on a completely different point of view, and they are unwilling to compromise...

　　Film of Opera

　　Rickshaw Boy （2015）

　　Director: Wang Ying｜Cast: Han Peng/Sun Xiuwei/Tian Haojiang/Song Yuanming｜USA/CHN

　　Runtime: 160min｜Language: Chinese

　　The carter, Xiangzi, lived frugally and bought a rickshaw using the money he had saved with three years’ hard working. He dreamed to open his own rickshaw dealership. Unfortunately, he lived in the turmoil of war, and he was very sad and angry as his rickshaw was rapped. Besides, he was unable to resist the sex seduction of Hu’niu (the daughter of  Liu Siye) because of being drunk. Then in order to get rid of Hu’niu, Xiangzi ran away from the rickshaw dealership, but Hu’niu lied that she was pregnant, and used both hard and soft means so that Xiangzi promised to marry her. He buyed a rickshaw using Hu’niu’s money, but before long, Hu’niu died of dystocia, and Xiaofuzi, his beloved woman, hanged herself because of the unbearable disgrace life. Xiangzi’s dream shattered and wasted his life since then.

　　Carmen（2015）

　　Director: Tiziano Mancini｜Cast: María José Montiel／Warren Mok／Yuan Chenye/ Zhou Xiaolin｜USA/CHN

　　Runtime: 153min｜Language: Italian

　　Beautiful but stubborn Gypsy girl, Carmen, who worked in a tobacco factory made the monitor of soldiers Don Jose fell in love and discarded his lover in the countryside, a gentle and kind woman called Mikaela. Later Jose was arrested because of freeing Carmen who had a fight with the women workers. After being released from prison, he joined Carmen in smuggling. Later, Carmen fell in love with the matador Ace Camelot. Carmen was killed by Don Jose, when she was cheering for Camelot’s victory in bullfighting.

　　Norma （2015）

　　Director: Ute Feudel｜Cast: Massimo Giordano/Carmen Giannattasio

　　Tian Haojiang/Nidia Palacios

　　Runtime: 157min｜Language: Italian

　　Rome defeats Gaul, and the high priest Oro Verso calls on the people to rise against the enemy. Although his daughter Norma is the chief priest, she is in love with the Roman governor Pollino and they have two sons. While Pollino falls in love with Adar Gisa then and plans to flee to Rome with her. Norma pronounces a judgment that she will put a woman, herself, to death in the name of God. Pollino is touched by her and they march to death together.

　　More

　　Boy and the World | O Menino e o Mundo（2013）

　　Director: Alê Abreu｜Cast: Marco Aurélio Campos / Vinicius Garcia/ Lu Horta｜Brazil

　　Runtime: 80 min｜Language: Portuguese

　　In order to make a living, the father had to leave for working abroad. The little boy could not bear his mother’s sadness. So he went on a great adventure journey to seek for his father. The film shows a modern urban life adventure journey from a child’s view. It is a fable about the rapid development of globalization. It describes a world ruined by consumerism and globalization of capital and the people who are alienated and heart-broken.

　　Story of My Father's Bike and Me| Ghwseh Man Va Docharkhe Babam （2014）

　　Director: Fayaz Mousavi｜Cast: Shabnam Moghadami／Ahmadreza Matinfar／Hasan Taseiri｜Iran

　　Runtime: 100 min｜Language: Persian

　　Thirteen-year old teenager Hamid has go to school and help his mother delivery good to the guests every day by riding an old bike inherited from his late father. Every day he has to ride a long distance. Then the Minister of Education announces to hold a student’s cycling race. In order to participate in this race, Hamid is willing to give anything just to get a bike for it. However, he still rides his old bike taking part in the competition in the end.

　　A Simple Goodbye（2015）

　　Director: Degena Yun｜Cast: Tumen／Liya Ai／Degena Yun｜China

　　Runtime: 94min｜Language: Mandarin／Mongolian

　　A young girl, who was confused about her future, was sent to England to study when she was young and then indulged in online dating, involved herself in love full of hurt and cannot extricate herself; a middle-aged father felt confused facing death. He left hometown north drift in Beijing, the situation of state-owned film making factory made them helplessly, terminally ill suffering from pain, he gave up the hope of living...

　　The Visitor | Misafir（2015）

　　Director: Mehmet Eryilmaz｜Cast: Zümrüt Erkin／Tamer Levent／Ayten Uncuoglu／Hale Akinli｜Turkey

　　Runtime: 127min｜Language: Turkish

　　Noor got the news that his mother was dying after he left home ten years. Then he with her daughter hastily rush back home, hoping to let her know that he had forgive his mother before she die.

　　Buffalo Rider （2015）

　　Director: Joel Soisson｜Cast: Lily Bhusadhit-a-nan / Tuchapong Rugtawatr / Chinnapat Kitichaivaranggoon | Thailand

　　Runtime: 94 min｜Language: Thai / English

　　An American-born Thai girl was sent back to Thailand's rural to live with her relatives. Being rebelled from childhood, the girl looks quite incompatible with the people in the village, until she became friends with a little dumb boy. And she tried to encourage the boy to take part in the annual buffalo race...