As theaters across the country reopened in July, the film industry is recovering from the lockout that has lasted for about half a year. An unexpected pandemic has made us realize, again, the preciousness of art and the value of film. It gives us enough guts to reckon with the impermanence of life, as well as the power to look ahead; it sheds light on our lives and dreams in the past and future, enabling us to have a deeper understanding of ourselves, society and civilization. Each of us can be informed by a good movie.

　　For years, the Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF) has not only brought a carnival air to movie fans, but also been a great destination for film professionals at home and abroad to get together. Here, we share gratifying results and explore difficulties and countermeasures. More importantly, we follow them on this road to “rediscover” the film from their discourses.

　　2020 is undoubtedly a special year for any film festival. At the same time, we are well aware of the significance of organizing a film festival to the entire film industry. Therefore, despite the difficulties, we still maintained close communication with the filmmakers, and sent out invitations for the workshop and masterclasses to director Ang Lee and other established filmmakers at home and abroad at the earliest possible time. In the words of Lee, the filmmakers need to unite and support each other even at such difficult times. The warmth Lee shows to the BJIFF has fortified our belief in overcoming technical difficulties to organize the workshop and masterclasses. We are honored to have finally invited outstanding Chinese and foreign filmmakers to share with you their personal employment history and most valuable life experience through lectures and talks at the milestone moment when the BJIFF is going into its tenth year.

　　What’s even more surprising is that the workshop and masterclasses this year will also be available through more broadcast channels, and be broadcast in full or part on platforms such as xuexi.cn, CCTV News, yangshipin.cn, cctv.com, cnr.cn, btime.com, iQIYI and ixigua.com (with specific broadcast time subject to the schedule of the platforms). At such a special time, the workshop and masterclasses of the BJIFF will not only focus on exchanges of knowledge and experience, but also deliver inspirational power, which will funnel wisdom, courage, determination and tenacity into the entire film industry.

　　This year, the filmmakers as keynote speakers at the workshop and masterclasses include:

　　Ang Lee, a renowned film master who integrates the best of Oriental and Western cultures;

　　Ang Lee Masterclass

　　Theme: Oriental Expression and Digital Technology

　　Time: 10:00 a.m. -11:30 a.m., August 25, 2020 (Beijing Time)

　　Venue: Beijing Yanqi Lake International Convention & Exhibition Center

　　Keynote speaker: Ang Lee

　　Special guests: Larry Yang, Gu Xiaogang

　　Moderator: Xiang Zhen

　　Ang Lee is an established film director in the world. In 1995, the English-language film Sense and Sensibility directed by Ang Lee was nominated for seven Academy Awards (Oscars) nominations. In 1999, Lee won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for the first time for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. In 2001, the minor planet 64291 was named after Ang Lee. In 2006, Brokeback Mountain won him the Best Director award at the 78th Annual Academy Awards; in the same year, Lee was awarded TIME 100: The Most Influential People by Time magazine. In 2009, he was on Entertainment Weekly’s list of the “50 Greatest Active Film Directors”. In 2012, Lee was honored with the Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 2013, Ang Lee nabbed the Best Director award for his film Life of Pi at the 85th Annual Academy Awards. In 2016, he was the Outstanding Director recipient at the British Academy Britannia Awards. In 2017, Lee chaired the Executive Committee of the new Golden Horse Awards. In August 2018, he ranked 11th on the 2018 Huading Awards Global Public Image Satisfaction Survey TOP100 list. On October 18, 2018, Lee received the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Honor for his outstanding contributions to the film industry.

　　Stanley Kwan Masterclass

　　Theme: Hong Kong Film—Inheritance of Tradition and Development for Surpassing

　　Time: 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m., August 28, 2020

　　Venue: Beijing Yanqi Lake International Convention & Exhibition Center

　　Keynote speaker: Stanley Kwan

　　Special guests: Qi Xi, Xiong Ying, Yang Yang

　　Stanley Kwan is one of the most important and influential directors in the Chinese film industry in Hong Kong, China. Due to his delicate and aesthetic creation style and impressive and touching expression of female emotions, he is hailed as the director who “understands women's hearts best”. In 1985, Kwan directed his first film Women, starting his career as a director. With this film, he was nominated for the Best Director at the 5th Hong Kong Film Awards. In 1987, his directorial film Rouge received multiple awards at the 24th Golden Horse Awards and the 8th Hong Kong Film Awards. In 1991, Kwan won the Best Director award for Center Stage at the annual Chicago International Film Festival. In 1997, he was the recipient of the Outstanding Artistic Contribution for Hold You Tight at the annual Berlin International Film Festival. In 2005, Kwan was honored with the Outstanding Artistic Contribution for Everlasting Regret at the annual Venice International Film Festival. In 2013, he produced the film So Young, which has set a standard for youth film in Chinese mainland. In 2018, Kwan’s directorial film Women on the Verge (starring Sammi Cheng, Gigi Leung, Bai Baihe, Angie Chiu, Qi Xi, etc.) was the only Chinese-language film shortlisted for the “Master Section” at the 23rd Busan International Film Festival.

　　Jessica Hausner Masterclass

　　Theme: International Path of Pioneer Female Filmmaker

　　Time: 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m., August 26, 2020 (Beijing Time)

　　Venue: Beijing Yanqi Lake International Convention & Exhibition Center

　　Keynote speaker: Jessica Hausner

　　Jessica Hausner, an Austrian director, screenwriter and filmmaker, was raised by an Austrian family of artists and graduated from Filmacademy Vienna. In 1995, she wrote and directed her first short film Flora. In 1999, her short film Inter-View won the Special Mention Award of the Cine?fondation at the 52nd Festival de Cannes. Following that, Jessica’s first and second feature films Lovely Rita and Hotel were shortlisted for the Un Certain Regard section at the 54th and 57th editions of the Festival de Cannes, respectively. In 2009, Lourdes made by Jessica won the FIPRESCI Prize at the 66th Venice International Film Festival, the SIGNIS Award, and other awards. In 2014, the romantic comedy film Amour Fou made Jessica shortlisted for the Un Certain Regard section at the Festival de Cannes for the third time, and was selected as the opening film of this section. In the same year, Jessica was invited to be a member of the jury for the In Competition section of the 72nd Festival de Cannes. In 2019, she was shortlisted for the In Competition section for the first time at the 72nd Festival de Cannes for the Sci-Fi film Little Joe, making her an extremely popular female director in contemporary international filmdom.

　　MPA Representative Workshop

　　Theme: Film Talent Cultivation System under Industrialization in China

　　Time: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., August 24, 2020 (Beijing Time)

　　Venue: Beijing Yanqi Lake International Convention & Exhibition Center

　　Keynote speakers: Ellen Eliasoph, Ye Ning, Zhao Fang (Gillian Zhao), Andre Morgan

　　Special guests: William Feng, Liu Chun, Charles Rivkin, Joe Russo, Belinda Lui

　　Moderators: Li Zhan, Xiang Zhen

　　The MPA Representative Workshop is organized by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPA). Through the form of forum, it brings together Li Zhan, founding partner of Fanink, Ellen Eliasoph, producer of Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons and Shadow, Gillian Zhao, president of Warner Bros. China, Andre Morgan, producer of Million Dollar Baby and The Warlords, and Ye Ning, founder and chairman of Qingsong Pictures to explore topics related to the film talent cultivation system under industrialization in China.

　　As the founder of Warner Bros. China, Ellen Eliasoph is the first Hollywood executive in China. The Fugitive she introduced to China is the first Hollywood revenue-sharing release in China. During her tenure as the president of Warner Bros. China, Ms. Ellen prepared and managed the release of The Matrix and Harry Potter franchises as well as many other Warner Bros. blockbusters in China. As the production director of Warner Bros. China, she has also supervised the shooting of many breakthrough Chinese-language films and co-productions, including Turn Left Turn Right directed by Johnnie To, The Painted Veil starring Edward Norton and Naomi Watts, Crazy Stone and Crazy Racer directed by Ning Hao, The Warlords directed by Peter Chan, and Connected directed by Chen Musheng. Ms. Ellen prepared the establishment and staffing of Village Roadshow Pictures Asia (VRPA) in 2011, and led the team to produce 9 films in the following 6 years, including Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons directed by Stephen Chow, Say Yes directed by Leste Chen, and the award-winning film Mountain Cry directed by the young director Larry Yang. Since she organized the VRPA and Perfect World Pictures’ joint venture production company Perfect Village in 2017, Perfect Village has released films including Bleeding Steel starring Jackie Chan; Shadow which won 4 Golden Horse Awards and 4 Asian Film Awards; the suspense thriller film Guilt by Design starring Nick Cheung; Send Me to the Clouds directed by the promising director Teng Congcong and starring Yao Chen; and The Whistleblower co-produced by China and Australia and directed by Xue Xiaolu and co-starring Tang Wei and Lei Jiayin. .

　　Li Zhan, founding partner of Fanink and PhD in Communication, has more than ten years of experience in market research and five years of experience in research media and sociology. Li has worked in Hollywood for many years, providing market and strategic analysis in project development and risk management. Since the cofounding of Fanink in 2014, he has led his team to serve more than 300 projects for over 100 film and television companies, and completed collecting monitoring data of more than 1,300 films. Li has figured out a range of quantitative scales aimed at improving the project management mechanism of China's film industry.

　　After joining Warner Bros. in August 2016, Ms. Zhao Fang (Gillian Zhao) took the position as President of Warner Bros. China in general oversight of all the strategies and businesses of Warner Bros. in China, including film & TV business development, home entertainment, consumer goods, games, and emerging digital businesses. Prior to that, she served as Senior Assistant to the President of Wanda Cultural Industry Group and General Manager of Wanda Film and Television Media Co., Ltd., during which, she led the production of many hit films in China including Go Away Mr. Tumor and The Ghouls. Before then, she also held senior executive posts at Bona Film Group, Celestial Pictures and STAR Xing Kong.

　　In 1984, Mr. Morgan cofounded the Ruddy Morgan Organization (RMO) with Albert S. Ruddy. So far, the company has produced more than 80 films and hundreds of hours of TV dramas and programs. Mr. Morgan has formulated development strategies in China for many media groups including BakrieBrothers, Media Asia Film, British Academy of Film and Television Arts and many American studios. He has also got involved in many large-scale multinational projects in non-media related fields. Mr. Morgan has been the co-chairman of the Chinese American Film Festival for many years. The films produced by RMO in the United States since 2004 include Million Dollar Baby, The Longest Yard, Cloud 9, The White Countess and Camille. His films have won him a number of awards including David di Donatello, Best Film Award in Japan, Golden Globes, and Academy Awards (Oscars) (including the Best Film, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for the film Million Dollar Baby). The Chinese films produced by him as lead (Perhaps Love, The Warlords, and Protégé) also won him multiple awards including the Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor in Hong Kong and the rest of Asia.

　　Ye Ning, a Chinese film entrepreneur and famous film producer, is the founder and current chairman of Qingsong Pictures and Chairman of Huaying Tianxia (Tianjin) Film Distribution Co., Ltd. Concurrently, he serves as Vice Chairman of the China Film Distribution & Exhibition Association, director of the China Film Fund, director of the China Film Association, and visiting professor at the Management Department of Beijing Film Academy. Ye used to be Vice President of Wanda Cultural Industry Group, Chairman of Wuzhou Film Distribution Co., Ltd., Director of AMC, Vice President of Huayi Brothers Media Corp., General Manager of Huayi Brothers Film Investment Co., Ltd. In 2017, he was the Best Producer winner of the first Asian Brilliant Stars Awards at the annual Berlin International Film Festival. In 2017, Ye was named on the “500 Most Influential People in the Global Entertainment Industry” list co-organized by the authoritative American magazine Variety and Verizon list. The main films coordinated, produced and planned by Ye Ning include: Police Story 2013 (2013), Beijing Love Story (2014), Jian Bing Man (2015), Go Away Mr. Tumor (2015), Goodbye Mr. Loser (2015), Mojin: The Lost Legend (2015), Detective Chinatown (2015), The Wasted Times (2016), Dangal (2017), Youth (2017), The Ex-File 3: The Return of the Exes (2017), Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings (2018), and The Eight Hundred (2020), etc.

　　The lineup of this year’s BJIFF workshop and masterclasses is sure to prove that as long as we work hard enough, communication will get better, and the film industry will move towards a more brilliant tomorrow despite setbacks.

　　P.S.: The final broadcast time is subject to the announcement on the official website of the BJIFF.