11th Beijing International Film Festival

The 11th Beijing International Film Festival (simplified Chinese: 第11届北京国际电影节; traditional Chinese: 第11屆北京國際電影節) was held in Beijing, China. Hosted by the Beijing Municipal Government and the China Media Group, the festival opened on September 21 with the Chinese 2021 film The Battle at Lake Changjin by Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark and Dante Lam. The festival was originally scheduled to be held from August 14 to 21, but was postponed due to the spread of Corona 19 delta mutation in China.[1]

11th Beijing International Film Festival
Official poster
Opening filmThe Battle at Lake Changjin
Closing filmSaturday Fiction
by Lou Ye
LocationYanqi Lake, Huairou District, Beijing, China
Founded2011
Awards
  • Tiantan Award
  • Best Feature Film: Beyond The Skies
  • Best Director: Andrey Zaytsev for A Siege Diary
Hosted by
No. of films300
Festival dateOpening: September 21, 2021 (2021-09-21)
Closing: September 29, 2021 (2021-09-29)
Website11th BJIFF
Beijing International Film Festival
12th
10th

The festival was held in hybrid format due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and around 300 films were screened. The online films are available for streaming on a cloud created by iQiyi.[2] In 11th edition of festival, in 'Retrospect Section' the focus was on comic actor Charlie Chaplin.[3]

The festival was closed on September 29 with the screening of 2019 film Saturday Fiction by Lou Ye.[4] Beyond The Skies a Chinese film by Liu Zhihai won the Tiantan Award for best feature film.[5][6]

International jury

Tiantan Awards

Seven members jury was selected for deciding the awards.[7]

  • Gong Li, Singaporean actress, chairman of the international jury,
  • Nadine Labaki, Lebanese actress, director and activist
  • Renny Harlin, Finnish film director, producer and screenwriter
  • Chen Kun, Chinese actor and singer
  • Zhang Songwen, Chinese actor
  • Leste Chen, Taiwanese director
  • Wuershan, Chinese director

Forward Future

  • Tony Rayns, President of Jury, British writer, commentator, film festival programmer and screenwriter,
  • Yannis Sakaridis, Greek director and screenwriter
  • Huang Lu, Chinese actress, director, screenwriter and producer,
  • Shuang XueTao, Chinese novelist,
  • Shen Yang, Chinese producer and curator

Panorama

Sources:[8][9]

Opening and closing films

Tiantan Awards Official Competition

These are the highest awards at the festival. 15 films have been shortlisted for the awards.[10]

Highlighted title ‡ indicates Tiantan award winner
  • All About My Mother (China), dir: Zhao Tianyu
  • Any Day Now (Finland), dir: Hamy Ramezan
  • A Morning of Farewell (Japan), dir: Izuru Narushima
  • A School in Cerro Hueso (Argentina), dir: Betania Cappato
  • A Siege Diary (Russia), dir: Andrey Zaytsev
  • Before Next Spring (China), dir: Li Gen

ॠBeyond The Skies (China), dir: Liu Zhihai

Forward Future

  • The Pack - 2020 (The Czech Republic), dir: Tomáš Polenský
  • Bone Cage - 2020 (Canada), dir: Taylor Olson
  • Namo - 2020 (Iran), dir: Nader Saeivar
  • Silenced Tree - 2020 (Iran/Turkey), dir: Faysal Soysal
  • The Pit - 2020 (Latvia/ Finland), dir: Dace Pūce
  • Knock Knock - 2020 (China), dir: Liu Xiang
  • The Whaler Boy - 2020 (Russia/ Poland/ Belgium), dir: Philipp Yuryev
  • Chupacabra - 2020 (Russia), dir: Grigory Kolomytsev

BJIFF Special: Retrospective of Gong Li

Premiere

  • Three Floors Up - 2021 (Italy), dir: Nanni Moretti
  • Satoshi Kon: Dreaming Machine - 2021 (Japan), dir: Pascal-Alex Vincent
  • The Employer and the Employee - 2021 (Uruguay/ Argentina/ Brazil/ France), dir: Manolo Nieto
  • It's a Flickering Life - 2021 (Japan), dir: Yoji Yamada

Restored Classics

This section will screen immortal masterpieces.

Retrospect

In 11th edition of festival this section will showcase Charlie Chaplin's classic films.

Filmmaker in focus

  • One Future - 2009 (Malaysia) dir: Chui Mui Tan
  • Barbarian Invasion - 2021 (Malaysia) dir: Chui Mui Tan
  • South of South - 2005 (Malaysia) dir: Chui Mui Tan
  • Year without a Summer - 2010 (Malaysia) dir: Chui Mui Tan
  • Company of Mushrooms - 2006 (Malaysia) dir: Chui Mui Tan
  • The Beautiful Loser - 2015 (Malaysia) dir: Chui Mui Tan

Tribute

Women's voice

  • A Balance - 2020 (Japan) dir: Yujiro Harumoto
  • Hard Love - 2021 (China) dir: Dong Xueying
  • Tomorrow's Dinner Table - 2021 (Japan) dir: Takahisa Zeze

Reality Rocks

  • Mr. Bachmann and His Class - 2021 (Germany) dir: Maria Speth
  • Epicentro - 2020 (Austria, France) dir: Hubert Sauper
  • Acasă, My Home - 2020 (Romania) dir: Radu Ciorniciuc
  • Stanislavski. Lust for Life - 2021 (Russia) dir: Julia Bobkova

Vision

Source:[12]

Dolby cinema section

Winners of Tiantan Awards

Source:[5][13][14]

CategoryWinner(s)Film
Best Feature FilmBeyond the Skies
Best DirectorAndrey ZaytsevA Siege Diary
Best ActorGroup Actor PerformanceBeyond the Skies
Best ActressNoee AbitaSlalom
Best Supporting ActorShahab HosseiniAny Day Now
Best Supporting ActressNana Skaarup VossThe Pact
Best ScreenplayChristian TorpeThe Pact
Best CinematographyMi XinjunBeyond the Skies
Best MusicTuomas NikkinenAny Day Now
Best Visual EffectsYanlai Ding, Eric Xu, Ahdee Chui, Samir AnsariThe Wandering Earth

References