The 14th BJIFF Meeting the Jury of Final-round Project Pitches was held at Langyuan Station, Beijing on April 20. The Final-round Jury of Project Pitches is composed of the President Stanley Kwan, director from Hong Kong, China, and four members, namely Dong Chengpeng (also known as Da Peng), Chinese director, screenwriter and actor, Liu Haoran, Chinese actor, Derek Tsang, director from Hong Kong, China, and Zhang Mo, Chinese director, screenwriter and editor. 

Meeting the Jury of Final-round Project Pitches

Stanley Kwan

Da Peng's film career can be considered as a dark horse. From the director of Jian Bing Man to a multi-talented filmmaker who focuses on both commercial and arthouse films and is engaged in both acting and directing, Da Peng expressed his unique views on “facing the market directly and rejecting self-entertainment”. He noted, “For every project, the five judges gave sincere suggestions respectively. As a new creator, works are often extracted from the people, things and environment they are most familiar with, and most creators start their debut film like this. I think we don’t exclude self-entertainment itself, as we must entertain ourselves before impressing the audience, and move ourselves before touching more audiences with our stories. Therefore, we don’t totally reject self-entertainment. In the process of review, we saw many excellent creators, and they answered our questions on the stage very firmly. This proved that they have already prepared for it for a long time.”

Da Peng

Actor Liu Haoran has brought life to many far-reaching characters since his debut, and has become the youngest nominee for the People's Hundred Flowers Award for Best Actor. He enjoys widespread popularity and recognition among the audience. Speaking of “how to define your image”, Liu Haoran said, “I think commercial and arthouse films are not in conflict, so I hope I can have more possibilities and grow faster. The Project Pitches this year is very interesting as my name showed up on the list of invited actors of many projects. Apart from meeting many young creators, I also expect them to share their thoughts and mindsets in their first and second films. In these projects, I saw many characters that fit my age and image, some of which I’m really interested in.”

Liu Haoran

Derek Tsang, a director and screenwriter from Hong Kong, China, has been trying to blend the extremely strong personal style in films of different genres, and excels in focusing on different characters from a delicate perspective and expressing care for individual values. He was also engaged in many film-related jobs. Speaking of how these experiences assist with his film creation, Derek Tsang noted, “I think they provide me with very precious experience. I always tell young filmmakers that you may wish to become a director or cinematographer, but I suggest you try different posts as many as possible so that you can fully understand what filmmaking is all about. I think I’m very lucky all these years, because I acted as a script supervisor and assistant director at the very beginning, and became an actor later on with a chance given by some director. That experience was so valuable to me, allowing me to consider and see a script from the perspective of an actor, which has helped me a lot as a director. I think working in different positions is a valuable opportunity.”

Derek Tsang

Zhang Mo, a director, screenwriter and editor, has been engaged in film creation with different themes and styles since her debut. At the event, she also shared her selection criteria with media, “We have different selection standards for different types of works, and we comprehensively judge a project based on its nature. For instance, we discussed about what is a commercial film -- the ability to attract excellent actors and align with the audience’s values and preferences based on the current circumstances. With different priorities, we will carry out sufficient discussions to select the most suitable and qualified films.”

Zhang Mo

Since its founding, the Project Pitches has become an incubator designed for promising young filmmakers and outstanding film projects. It is intended to discover talents and reserve projects for the market through project selection, professional training, awards & incentives, international exchanges, and resource services. With the leadership of the five judges, the 14th BJIFF Project Pitches will continue to support young filmmakers and superior film projects.