Editor's Note:

With the 16th Beijing International Film Festival about to kick off, our "Nothing Beats a Movie in the Spring" Spring Cinema Ticket Stub Challenge has already captured the attention of film lovers everywhere. Scrolling through social media platforms, we discovered no shortage of sincere cinematic reflections: some shared the moment film first entered their lives, some revisited the time they've spent with the festival, and some found in this springtime atmosphere a kind of healing they hadn't felt in a long while.

These vivid, heartfelt words turned every ticket stub into something far greater than an entry slip. Today, we've compiled some touching messages from movie fans. Let's experience this unique springtime romance of movie fandom through these ticket stubs.

A small piece of evidence brought out from the darkened cinema

Today, I organized these eight ticket stubs and eight pieces of writing, and took some photos. It's not meant to be some big statement. I simply wanted a place for all the small pieces I've taken with me from theaters, bit by bit, over the years.

They are small. Ticket stubs fade, paper softens, and even the words come out a little clumsy. But they are my slowly salvaged evidence in other people's stories.

Eight films, eight times the lights dimmed and brightened. I used to be the kid who never set foot in a movie theater again after middle school. Now I’m sitting here with a small stack of ticket stubs in my hand, having just finished my eighth review.

Taste · Hou Hsiao-hsien

I was lucky enough to catch A City of Sadness and Millennium Mambo at the Art Cinema at China Film Archive, and to spend an entire afternoon inside Hou Hsiao-hsien's world of images felt like such a gift! Classics endure!

What made it a little sad, though, was that my first time watching A City of Sadness turned out to be the Film Archive’s last screening for the time being.

Looking back at my 15th Beijing International Film Festival

4.20 Postmen in the Mountains:

A true classic, and one that wears its history openly: you can tell from the opening that it predates the current Dragon Seal, using the 1998 film marker instead. But this screening gave it new life in a specially restored 4K version from the China Film Archive. I'd wanted for so long to take in this film on a true big screen, and that moment finally arrived at Emperor Cinemas, with its top-tier IMAX in Beijing.

This movie is truly beautiful: it lets you take in the mountain terraces, encounter people in their simplest, most unadorned way, and feel emotions at their most sincere. It feels almost like a piece of prose on screen: slow in pace, but soft and calming, offering a kind of emotional rest that’s hard to come by in everyday life. After the screening, I even got the director's autograph and took a photo, which is truly unforgettable.

Nothing Beats a Movie in the Spring

Movies have been with me through so much of my life.

When I'm happy, I watch a light-hearted movie with my partner; when sadness hits, I tend to choose a movie, a weekday matinee, and a seat by myself, just to disappear into the film for a while and let the feelings run their course. I like letting the camera guide me through someone else’s story, learning how they live and feel, and borrowing that world for a short escape from my own.

Nothing beats a movie in the spring. If one film won't do, then two it is.

In these intertwining shares of sentiment and ideals, we feel the true power that cinema brings to everyone. If you’ve been carrying a ticket-stub memory of your own, or a story about film and the Beijing International Film Festival, come be part of this spring invitation, and let those light-filled moments keep their warmth.

From now until April 24th, include the hashtag on Weibo, rednote, or TikTok... #Nothing beats a movie in the spring # and @Beijing Beijing International Film Festival official account to share your ticket stub and thoughts, you'll have a chance to participate in our two rounds of surprise prize draws. We have prepared Beijing Film Panorama movie packages, the Yancey mascot doll, signed posters from BJIFF panels, tickets for the Tiantan Award Best Feature Film screening, and precious spots that can take you onto the red carpet!

The more likes, the more surprises; we look forward to seeing your name in the next summary.