Forward Future
Jury Members of the Forward Future Section Unveiled, Experienced Filmmakers to Boost Emerging Film Talents
The Forward Future Section of the 13th Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF) will be held from April 21 to 27, 2023. For the purposes of “discovering the new filmmakers around the globe in China’s view and encouraging originals on the new wave of films in the world”, the section strives to highlight the cultural connotations of films in various forms, and boost the exchange and communication among young filmmakers all over the world. All the first or second feature films are welcomed regardless of genre, type or style.
In the Forward Future Section of the 13th BJIFF, a total of nearly 500 films from 60 countries and regions received this year are to be reviewed by a jury composed of five world-renowned filmmakers to decide on seven honors from the shortlisted films, namely “Most Popular Feature Picture”, “Most Popular Director”, “Most Popular Screenplay”, “Most Popular Actress”, “Most Popular Actor”, “Most Popular Artistic Contribution” and “Special Mention Film by the Jury”.
Pema Tseden, a Chinese director, is invited to be served as the Jury President, and Corinne Bopp, a French producer, Li Miao, a production designer, Qi Xi, an actress and Koji Fukada, a Japanese director as members of the jury of the Forward Future Section of the 13th BJIFF.
Pema Tseden is a Tibetan director, screenwriter and author. His published works include Temptation, Holy Stones, Quietly Chiseled, Tharlo, I Ran Over a Sheep and Orgyan’s Teetch. His works have received numerous literature awards and have been translated into different languages and published globally. His films include The Silent Holy Stones, The Search, Old Dog, The Sacred Arrow, Tharlo, Jinpa and Balloon. From his realistic, meticulous portrayal of his native land, people have a new understanding of Tibetan culture. His films have won Best Screenplay Award at Venice International Film Festival, Best Pictures Awards at Brooklyn Film Festival and Tokyo FILMeX Festival, Best Pictures Award at Vesoul Asian Film Festival, Best Screenplay at Chicago International Film Festival and dozens of other awards.
Corinne Bopp, a French producer and film festival curator. Graduated from the top national film school La Fémis, she worked with internationally known artistic director and curator Marie-Pierre Duhamel-Muller (Top French International Documentary Film Festival Cinéma du réel), with various production companies (Pathé TV, Paris Première) as producer and for the Cultural European public TV channel ARTE as commissioning editor. She accompanies, supports and trains new talents with innovative projects within the artists residency of Association Périphérie which hosted films selected by the top international film festivals of Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Locarno, Idfa, Visions du reel… and as jury member in International Film Festivals such as Pravo Ljudski Film Festival, La Rochelle, Filmer à tout prix in Brussels, Festival des Films de Femmes in Créteil. She is the artistic director of the International Documentary Film Festival Les Rencontres du cinéma documentaire; member of commissions for financial support within CNC - French National Film Center and teacher in Paris-Cité University.
Li Miao, a production designer and costume designer, graduated from Communication University of China in 2004. Representative films include Home Coming, Nice View, Moon Man, A Writer's Odyssey, Dying to Survive and Detective Chinatown 1~3. He has been shortlisted for Golden Rooster Awards, Asian Film Awards and other foreign and domestic film awards for many times. In 2022, he won the best production designer of the 35th Golden Rooster Awards by the film Moon Man.
Qi Xi is an acclaimed Chinese actress at home and abroad. She starred “Sang Qi” in the film Mystery, which was nominated for “Un Certain Regard” section of the 65th Cannes Film Festival, and won Best Newcomer award in the 7th Asian Film Awards and Best New Actress award in the 13th Chinese Film Media Awards. She starred “Shen Moli” in the film So Long, My Son, which was nominated in the main competition section of the 69th Berlinale. She Starred “Lin Tong” in The Calming, which won CICAE art cinema award of the 70th Berlinale Forum section, and she won Actress of the Year award in the 15th Chinese Youth Film Week. Starring “Guan Wei” in Before Next Spring, she was nominated for the Best Actress award of the 17th Changchun Film Festival. Starring “Wang Chunmei” in Nice View, she was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress award in the 36th People’s Hundred Flowers Awards and won Best Supporting Actress award in the 35th Golden Rooster Awards.
Koji Fukada is a young Japanese film director, screenwriter and producer. His film works are highly acclaimed internationally, and he is one of the representative figures of Japanese contemporary art directors. His film Harmonium won the Prix du Jury in the Un Certain Regard section of the 69th Festival de Cannes. A Girl Missing was nominated for the Golden Leopard award in the 72nd Locarno Film Festival. The Real Thing was nominated in the 73rd Festival de Cannes. His latest work Love Life was nominated for the Golden Lion award of the 79th Venice International Film Festival. On May 2018, he was granted Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by French Ministry of Culture; and in 2022, he won Akira Kurosawa Award in the 35th Tokyo International Film Festival.
No great success was ever achieved without nothing and failure. At the very first day of career, every director tries to tell their own stories instead of depicting the world, just starting from their first feature film, and then the second and the third and so on. With the growing skills and maturing style, they could write down the most fascinating chapter of their own. The jury, at the Forward Future Section, is going to great lengths to discover all talented new filmmakers and their brilliant works.