Birth of A Film Young Directors Workshop – Everlasting BJIFF in-Campus Activities Successfully Concluded
In this digital era, young filmmakers are contacting and perceiving the world in an unprecedented way. They record lives and express emotions with images, showing themselves through creations. In order to help students who have just entered universities to better understand the process of filmmaking and realize self-expression, as part of the “Everlasting BJIFF” series, a young directors workshop themed “Birth of A Film” was held at the 4K Screening Hall in the library of the Communication University of China (CUC) in collaboration with the Television School, CUC and the “Vision Youth” College Students Film Exhibition. Four well-known directors were invited to have face-to-face exchanges with the students and share their experiences from filmmaking to screening.
At the beginning of the event, Mr. Li Fang, Secretary of the Youth League Committee of the Television School, CUC and curator of the “Vision Youth” College Students Film Exhibition, introduced this event and said, “For students who are interested in video as their career, they need to understand how to start their creation, how to make put their works into market, how to polish their works, and how to screen their works at cinemas from this event. All the directors in this event once created short films when they were in college. Their experiences are instructive and valuable for students in filmmaking, and serve as advices for their future career."
Mr. Li Fang introducing the theme of the event
In this event, we invited Bai Zhiqiang, director of Like Father and Son from Project Pitches of the 13th Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF), Dong Mingxing, director of The Chamber of Memories from BJIFF TALENTS, Pu Ba, director of Eye in the Sky, and Wu Xichen, CUC alumnus and director of Pink Flag. After appreciation of such wonderful works and meet-and-greet with directors, students felt in person the charm of films and got inspired on their study and creation in future career. This event was moderated by Shi Qi, a young director and master's degree candidate at CUC.
On site
During the exchange, director Bai Zhiqiang shared the difficulties he encountered in filming Like Father and Son, "Filmmaking is very difficult, and such difficulty is not limited to the issue of funding, but may also involve ourselves. Anyway, it is important to hold the core of art and films. The biggest difficulty I met in making this film was the playwriting. Before writing the film, I watched nearly 10,000 films, and kept myself secluded in a mountain for two years. But I was still confused about aesthetics while shooting. I finally figured out the difference of different aesthetics in realism through the history of films. So my advice to all of you is being down-to-earth."
Director Bai Zhiqiang sharing his experience in filmmaking
As a fresh alumnus, director Wu Xichen said, "Most of the difficulties I met were practical problems, such as coordination and environment-related issues on site. In my opinion, in the face of difficulties, we need to think about how to use the existing resources to solve unexpected problems. The most essential ability for a director is to turn impossible into possible."
Director Wu Xichen having warm talks with students
In front of the freshmen of the Television School, director Dong Mingxing shared her filmmaking experience, "In the pre-shooting period, you can have field investigations more frequently to fully familiarize yourself with and understand the environment on site. Only by careful observation and experience and repeated practices, can you really present what you want to express. Meanwhile, as a director, you must have stable emotions, choose the right direction, and go on firmly.”
Director Dong Mingxing sharing her experience
Director Pu Ba made clear his focus in creation at his years in college, "Purity is the best. When I was in college, I was in a state of ignorance and uncertainty about what I wanted to make, not sure if it would last or be good enough. But it was because of such uncertainty that I was able to preserve the unique charm of works, which is the charm of purity. As I become more experienced in shooting, I gain more knowledge, but the most important thing is to find myself."
Director Pu Ba talking about the key aspects in creation
Students on site gave warm responses to the directors for their selfless instructions. Students had constructive exchanges with directors on such topics as how to deal with the relationship with subjects for shooting, how to transform, the status of minority culture in works, and how to broaden the creative inspiration of student creators, making it the "first lesson of films”.
Starting from this Everlasting BJIFF, young filmmakers and even young creators in the future just opened their first chapter, during which constant communication and learning are essential for growth. The in-campus activities under “Everlasting BJIFF” build a bridge between mature directors and new ones. From original aspiration and perseverance to inheritance of dreams, BJIFF continues to feed the Chinese film industry by developing fresh talents to support the industrial prosperity.
What a great BJIFF in this mid-summer! We would like to thank the Television School, CUC for their strong support. We believe our destiny with young filmmakers and future creators never fades.