“There might be room for improvement of screenplays submitted to the Project Pitches. However, as long as there is one shining point that impresses me, I’d love to give the project a nudge and bring it to the next level.” At the first-round selection meeting of the Project Pitches of the 13th Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF), jury members reached a consensus that they were there to help potential creators show their talent, and get their immature projects ready.  The first-round jury members of the 13th BJIFF Project Pitches are from major film production companies in China. They upheld open and just selection, and evaluated projects and WIPs with their multiple professional perspectives from various aspects, such as theme expression, plots and conflicts, and directing capabilities. Each member argued for their favorite projects and also insisted on putting forward negative opinions on certain projects. So, heated debates were frequently seen at the selection meetings.  “It’s a pretty good project. The screenplay presents the bright side of humanity well. But the production cost is high. And the production is too complex for a young director to get started with from the outset.” At the first-round selection meeting, jury members didn’t stint with praise for impressive projects, and evaluated the key factor of project feasibility based on actual production difficulty for young directors. For every good project and creator, it’s necessary for them to examine what kind of project size young directors should choose for their debut film, if they can navigate through grand narration and high production costs, and how they can break barriers between identity and artistic pursuit. “This project has clear target audience. If it’s well produced, it would be easy to identify its position in the target market.”  In jury members’ view, regardless of subject matter and genre, potential film projects should have clear-cut market positions, only through which sharp, sincere and insightful expression become relatable, the common ground between individual expression and social emotions can be explored, and artistic and commercial property may be bridged.  “I love this project. The setting is very romantic. And it’s commercial and artistic on the whole. It portrays the actual current social situation of young people, but in a comic and dramatic way. It’s well-thought-out.”  For most young creators, the key to fictional creation lies in the balance of reality and drama of a screenplay. Jury members expect projects with in-depth integration of local social context and dramatic tension. The common starting point for all jury members is discretion with their voting power and valuing of good projects. First-round jury members of the 13th BJIFF Project Pitches are as follows: The call for entries of the 13th BJIFF Project Pitches started on December 16, 2022. It’s been more than 100 days. This year, a total of 874 projects and WIPs were submitted. Through meticulous and careful review by the eight jury members of the first round, and intense discussions at the first-round selection meeting, 30 projects, 10 WIPs and 5 sports film projects were shortlisted for the second round of the 13th BJIFF Project Pitches. Congratulation to all the shortlisted entries as below!