The new "Tribute" plan integrates restoration, commemoration, archives, and film history books, inviting the audience to enjoy cutting-edge technology, rediscover classics, and share film fan fun.

This year's Tribute & Restoration section will show 16 new restored films, covering Asia, Europe and  America, and spanning nearly 80 years. These films have been restored with the latest technology for shining on the big screen again.

The following are the restored Chinese films to be shown in the Tribute & Restoration sub-section.

Sam and Joyce, experts and curators of Hong Kong Film Archive, and Sha Dan, program planner of China Film Archive, will attend the meet-and-greet.

The Wild, Wild Rose creates one of the most indelible female characters on East Asian screens, and the Carmen-like dancer played by Grace Chang in the film has become the classic image of a generation of musical films in Hong Kong. Based on the Western opera Carmen, The Wild, Wild Rose was specially tailored for Grace Chang by the screenwriter Yi-fu Chin (i.e. Nellie Chin Yu), who shifted the time and space background to the Ritz nightclub and Wan Chai district of North Point in Hong Kong in the early 1960s, and played an enchanting "North Point Carmen". 

In 2003, the Hong Kong Film Archive borrowed a 35mm original copy of the film from Motion Picture General Investment Co., based on which an interdupe and a new copy were produced for permanent preservation. In 2004, the Hong Kong Film Archive officially received the original copy donation from Motion Picture General Investment Co. and launched 4K digital restoration of The Wild, Wild Rose in 2022. The newly restored frames to be shown are based on the interdupe mentioned above, and the sound is taken from the original copy.

In addition, director Wong Jing, son of the film's director Tian-lin Wang, has specially recorded an appreciation guide video for the Chinese mainland premiere of The Wild, Wild Rose, which will be played before the screening. You should never miss it.

Michael Hui has TV background and knows everything about cast & credits, and it is obvious that he is comfortable shooting The Contract, which focuses on the life status of TV actors. The film has few lines to make people laugh, almost all the jokes are from the action and elaborate scene design, and the realistic portrayal of "signing a contract" undoubtedly continues the humanistic care of Hui's Film Production.

The digitalization and restoration of The Contract were completed in 2024, and the film restoration was completed by the Digital Restoration Laboratory of China Film Archive in cooperation with Douyin and Volcengine. The original negative was scanned in 4K format in Hong Kong using an ARRISCAN scanner. Sound was restored from the 35mm mixed sound negative of the saved film.

When Edward Yang returned to Taiwan, China in 1980, Wai-Ching Yu, a friend he had met at the University of Southern California, invited him to write the script and work as an assistant on The Winter of 1905, which he eventually made a small cameo role in, starting his film career. Based on the exploits of Li Shutong, a pioneer of the New Culture Movement, The Winter of 1905 is quite experimental with non-professional actors participated (different from mainstream films at the time), as well as Heinrich Wang, who later became a well-known artist, and Hark Tsui, who was still a new director, invited to play the lead role. 

This will be the first time the digital version of the film to be shown in public on the Chinese mainland. Director Wai-Ching Yu and Sha Dan, program planner of China Film Archive, will attend the meet-and-greet. Please stay tuned for the upcoming schedule.

When it comes to strong female representation on screen, many of the characters portrayed by Gong Li in Zhang Yimou's films probably stand out. The role of "Qiu-Ju", which helped Gong Li win the Best Actress award at the Venice International Film Festival, is the most representative one. The Story of Qiu-Ju has some echoes with Zhang Yimou's latest Spring Festival blockbuster, Article 20. From the change of the gender of the protagonist and the change of the narrative perspective, the audience can also find the change of Zhang Yimou's creation in the past 30 years.

The digitalization and restoration of The Story of Qiu-Ju was completed in 2019, and the film restoration was completed by the Digital Restoration Laboratory of China Film Archive. The film was scanned in 4K via picture righting by using an ARRISCAN XT scanner and then restored in 4K. Sound was restored from the saved 35mm sound track film.

Co-written by director Ning Ying and her elder sister Ning Dai, For Fun, the first one in her "Beijing trilogy", is a detailed presentation of the streets of Beijing in the 1990s. Focusing on Lao Han Tou, a recently retired janitor at a Beijing opera theater, the film conveys the dialectical relationship between the individual and the collective through the story between him and several "fanciers" who love Beijing opera. In addition to veteran performers such as Huang Zongluo and Han Shanxu, the non-professional actors who play the opera fans are also quite amazing, and most of them are Peking Opera fans from the east and west of Beijing.

The digitalization and restoration of For Fun was completed in 2024, and the film restoration was completed by the Digital Restoration Laboratory of China Film Archive. The original negative of the film was scanned in 4K using an ARRISCAN XT scanner and then restored in 4K, with art restoration directed by Ms. Ning Ying, director of the film. Sound was restored from the 35mm mixed sound negative of the saved film.

In last year’s BJIFF Workshop & Masterclass, director Yonfan and Professor Wenchi Lin talked about Peony Pavilion, and mentioned that everyone should look forward to the screening of restored 4K version of Peony Pavilion. Finally, it comes as expected this year. The shooting of Peony Pavilion originated from Yonfan's love at his first listening to the Kun opera. The film is based on the classic Kun opera Peony Pavilion, with meticulous brushwork to describe the magnificent garden of Rong Mansion in Suzhou in the 1930s, and slowly come to a moving story full of deep feelings and regrets as time passes by.

The two screenings of Peony Pavilion at the BJIFF will be presented as the 4K restored version for the first time in Chinese mainland, one with the well-known Mandarin version, and the other with the very special Japanese version by heroine Rie Miyazawa.

Director Yonfan will also attend the two meet-and-greets! Please stay tuned for the upcoming schedule.

 

Tips for Viewing

In case of any changes to the film lineup, please refer to the actual official screening schedule. Stay tuned for more exciting content about the Beijing Film Panorama.