By Genevieve Carmel
Participating filmmakers at the 2nd Annual Beijing New Youth Film Festival (photo: Genevieve Carmel)
The 2nd annual Beijing New Youth Film Festival was held from September 9-18. Organized by the Trainspotting Culture Salon, this young festival makes space for new directors to showcase their work, connect with more experienced filmmakers, and receive feedback from peers and critics. Screenings and discussions were held at CNEX, Trainspotting, and the Wenjin International Art Center at Tsinghua University. The jury included a diverse team of authors, creators, and art critics, in addition to Fifth Generation filmmaker Lv Yue, who was the director of photography for works including Zhang Yimou’s To Live and Feng Xiaogang’s Aftershock.
The festival was divided into three program sections: An invitational section featuring new work by distinguished directors, a competition section for new directors, and an Austrian section, programmed by the Austro Sino Arts Program. The opening and closing films of the festival were Pema Tseden’s Old Dog and Zhao Liang’s Together, respectively.
This year’s New Youth Image Award was given to the early Li Xianting Film School graduate Zheng Kuo for his second documentary The Cold Winter, which follows the 2009 artist demonstrations against the demolition of art districts surrounding Beijing’s 798 art zone. The New Youth Image Award was also bestowed on painter-turned-filmmaker Tao Huaqiao for his partly dramatized documentary Luohan, about gang culture in his Jiangxi Province hometown. The animated film Piercing Me by Liu Jian and the documentary Mirror of Emptiness by Ma Li received Distinguished Technical Awards. Mirror of Emptiness, about a Buddhist monastery on the Tibetan Plateau, also won the Special Jury Award. Finally, Deng Bochao’s documentary Under the Split Light, about the disappearance and preservation of Hakka cultural traditions on Hainan Island, received the Humanitarian Award.
The following is a full list of films screened at the festival:
Annual Invitational Section
OLD DOG (2011), Pema Tseden
GAS (2010), Lin Xin
5+5 (2011), Xu Xing and Andrea Cavazzuti
SHATTERED (2011), Xu Tong
POETRY AND DISEASE (2010), Geng Jun
WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS(2011), Ji Dan
A MONK’S TEMPLE (2010), Shen Shaomin
LAST CHESTNUTS(2010), Zhao Ye
MY MOTHER’S RHAPSODY (2011), Qiu Jiongjiong
TOGETHER (2010), Zhao Liang
New Youth Competition Section
OLD DONKEY (2010), Li Ruijun
LUOHAN (2009), Tao Huaqiao
CHINESE CLOSET (2010), Fan Popo
THE COLD WINTER (2011), Zheng Kuo
UNDER THE SPLIT LIGHT (2010), Deng Bocha
APUDA (2010), He Yuan
EIGHT-INGREDIENT PORRIDGE (2010), Li Dong
THE DAYS (2010), Wei Xiaobo
MIRROR OF EMPTINESS (2010), Ma Li
LOST WALL (2010), Pan Zhiqi
MANGO (2011), Xu Zhipeng
STARVING VILLAGE (2011), Zou Xueping
SATIATED VILLAGE (2011), Zou Xueping
STRAY HOME (2011), Bai Zhiqiang
PIERCING ME (2009), Liu Jian
SELF-PORTRAIT WITH THREE WOMEN (2010), Zhang Mengqi
WANG LIANG’S IDEAL (2010), Gao Xiongjie
Austrian Section
INSIDE AMERICA (2010), Barbara Eder
OCEANUL MARE (2009), Katharina Copony
KAFKANISTAN (2007), Lukas Birk
FOLLOW ME (2010), Johannes Hammel
SOCIALISM FAILED, CAPITALISM IS BANKRUPT. WHAT COMES NEXT? (2010), Oliver Ressle
A DAY IN THE FACTORY (2010), Nico Mesterharm
EVERY SEVENTH PERSON (2006), Ina Ivanceau and Elke Groen
OUR DAILY BREAD (2005), Nikolaus Geyrhalter
CORE OF FLOCK (2009), Barbara Husa
ABENDLAND (2011), Nikolaus Geyrhalter