Li Ziwei was taking the Mandarin Proficiency Test at Beijing’s Communication University of China when she first heard about plans to inaugurate what would evolve into the First International Film Festival.
That was 18 years ago and, as Li tells it, the landscape for cinema in China remained dominated solely by the major film and TV studios. But changes were afoot. Technology was increasingly allowing students to dream big as digital video (Dv) cameras, first, and later smartphones, brought filmmaking within reach.
First founder Song Wen began by launching a Student Dv Film Festival in Beijing before the First concept took shape. In the 18 years since its launch, the festival has carved a niche in Chinese cinema as the place where the “next generation” of talent is given its first time in the spotlight.
Li has worked alongside Song in her role as fest CEO. The festival has helped launch...
That was 18 years ago and, as Li tells it, the landscape for cinema in China remained dominated solely by the major film and TV studios. But changes were afoot. Technology was increasingly allowing students to dream big as digital video (Dv) cameras, first, and later smartphones, brought filmmaking within reach.
First founder Song Wen began by launching a Student Dv Film Festival in Beijing before the First concept took shape. In the 18 years since its launch, the festival has carved a niche in Chinese cinema as the place where the “next generation” of talent is given its first time in the spotlight.
Li has worked alongside Song in her role as fest CEO. The festival has helped launch...
- 7/28/2024
- by Mathew Scott
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The First International Film Festival, held annually high up on the plains of Tibet, prides itself as a discovery festival and has been described as a Chinese equivalent of Sundance.
But noted Chinese filmmaker Guan Hu dealt First organizers a blow on Sunday, when as head of the main competition jury, he refused to announce a best film winner.
“It is not that we didn’t see any good films, but the selection overall was not bold enough,” Guan said from the stage. In other comments, Guan suggested that the festival, aged 18 years old, should by now have reached the age of maturity, but in fact still needs to grow up.
Fortunately, the jury did decide on a slew of other prizes. These included “Sailing Song of June” as the Grand Jury prize winner and “Chengzi 1” as winner of the Spirit of Innovation award.
In recent editions, First has selected...
But noted Chinese filmmaker Guan Hu dealt First organizers a blow on Sunday, when as head of the main competition jury, he refused to announce a best film winner.
“It is not that we didn’t see any good films, but the selection overall was not bold enough,” Guan said from the stage. In other comments, Guan suggested that the festival, aged 18 years old, should by now have reached the age of maturity, but in fact still needs to grow up.
Fortunately, the jury did decide on a slew of other prizes. These included “Sailing Song of June” as the Grand Jury prize winner and “Chengzi 1” as winner of the Spirit of Innovation award.
In recent editions, First has selected...
- 7/28/2024
- by Jenny S. Li
- Variety Film + TV
In the end, it was always going to come down to those youngsters.
China’s First International Film Festival, which has now 17 editions, prided itself on providing a platform on which the county’s next generation of filmmakers can reveal their talent. Fittingly, then, the event is attended by a predominantly young audience. They travel in large numbers to the city of Xining, set in China’s mountainous central region, fringing the Tibetan Plateau, and they really do feast on the program of independent films.
There were 98 films screened across the festival’s nine-day run, 27 features and 71 shorts among them. There were Q&a sessions with the audience that often ran well into overtime, such was the enthusiasm shown for everything from a gritty but life-affirming three-hour drama about a migrant woman trying to forge a life in a big city (Qin Tian’s Fate of the Moonlight) to a...
China’s First International Film Festival, which has now 17 editions, prided itself on providing a platform on which the county’s next generation of filmmakers can reveal their talent. Fittingly, then, the event is attended by a predominantly young audience. They travel in large numbers to the city of Xining, set in China’s mountainous central region, fringing the Tibetan Plateau, and they really do feast on the program of independent films.
There were 98 films screened across the festival’s nine-day run, 27 features and 71 shorts among them. There were Q&a sessions with the audience that often ran well into overtime, such was the enthusiasm shown for everything from a gritty but life-affirming three-hour drama about a migrant woman trying to forge a life in a big city (Qin Tian’s Fate of the Moonlight) to a...
- 7/31/2023
- by Mathew Scott
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
If you ask any Chinese indie auteur for their own favorite film festival, expect to be directed to the city of Xining, China’s historic gateway to the vast Tibetan Plateau. Here, in a now-teaming city in the foothills of the world’s tallest mountains, the First International Film Festival has carved out a reputation that regularly earns it comparisons to Sundance — it is China’s preeminent indie event, where exciting new cinematic talent is most likely to be discovered.
This year’s festival, running July 23-31, features a selection of 98 films, including 27 features and 71 shorts — many of them made by first or second-time directors. Former financier-turned-producer, writer and director Song Wen, co-founded Fiff in 2006 and has shepherded the event through 17 years of tumultuous growth and change in the Chinese industry. Along the way, he and the festival have nurtured the careers of some of China’s most distinctive new cinematic voices,...
This year’s festival, running July 23-31, features a selection of 98 films, including 27 features and 71 shorts — many of them made by first or second-time directors. Former financier-turned-producer, writer and director Song Wen, co-founded Fiff in 2006 and has shepherded the event through 17 years of tumultuous growth and change in the Chinese industry. Along the way, he and the festival have nurtured the careers of some of China’s most distinctive new cinematic voices,...
- 7/22/2023
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Universal’s Dolittle was the top-grossing film over the three-day weekend, followed by local production The Enigma Of Arrival.
The rerelease of Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar had a strong opening on Sunday, August 2 in China, grossing $2.8m in a single day, according to figures from Artisan Gateway, boding well for the release of Nolan’s Tenet if it goes ahead in the territory in late August.
Nolan has a huge fan base in China where audiences have long embraced his high-concept, twisty style of story-telling. Interstellar grossed $112m (RMB779.5m) when it was first released in China in November 2014. The rerelease,...
The rerelease of Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar had a strong opening on Sunday, August 2 in China, grossing $2.8m in a single day, according to figures from Artisan Gateway, boding well for the release of Nolan’s Tenet if it goes ahead in the territory in late August.
Nolan has a huge fan base in China where audiences have long embraced his high-concept, twisty style of story-telling. Interstellar grossed $112m (RMB779.5m) when it was first released in China in November 2014. The rerelease,...
- 8/3/2020
- by 89¦Liz Shackleton¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Local content is proving more of a draw than Hollywood films as China’s cinemas get back on their feet. Chinese drama “Enigma of Arrival” quashed “Dolittle” and “Jojo Rabbit” to take the top spot in theaters’ second weekend back in business, while a local animation bested the whimpering China debut of Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog.”
The $87 million-budgeted “Sonic” broke records in its February premiere stateside, attaining the highest opening figures for a video game movie adaptation to date with an estimated $57 million three-day debut. In China, it opened with just $1.27 million, according to leading Chinese data tracker Ent Group. Debuting months after its U.S. release, the film is understood to have already been widely pirated by those keen to see it.
Around 7,099 cinemas — roughly 65% of China’s national total — were back in action across the country as of Saturday, an increase of 379 from the day before, according to Chinese reports.
The $87 million-budgeted “Sonic” broke records in its February premiere stateside, attaining the highest opening figures for a video game movie adaptation to date with an estimated $57 million three-day debut. In China, it opened with just $1.27 million, according to leading Chinese data tracker Ent Group. Debuting months after its U.S. release, the film is understood to have already been widely pirated by those keen to see it.
Around 7,099 cinemas — roughly 65% of China’s national total — were back in action across the country as of Saturday, an increase of 379 from the day before, according to Chinese reports.
- 8/2/2020
- by Rebecca Davis
- Variety Film + TV
The Chinese box office is gearing up for a starkly unsexy Valentine’s Day, with “Jojo Rabbit” and a local title formally pulling out of the mid-February line-up, while unconfirmed reports suggest that others – including “Little Women” – will soon pull the plug, amidst strict measures to prevent the spread of deadly coronavirus.
Cinemas are currently shut across the country, and all film and TV production has been indefinitely halted. Though the Chinese new year holiday has been extended until Feb. 10 in much of the country, Chinese residents remain for the most part locked away at home nationwide, venturing out only out of necessity while businesses remain shut.
Oscar contender “Jojo Rabbit” pulled out of its Feb. 12 China debut “out of consideration for the enclosed spaces of cinemas and the risk of transmitting the disease,” according to a statement from the National Arthouse Alliance of Cinemas, which was distributing it in a limited release.
Cinemas are currently shut across the country, and all film and TV production has been indefinitely halted. Though the Chinese new year holiday has been extended until Feb. 10 in much of the country, Chinese residents remain for the most part locked away at home nationwide, venturing out only out of necessity while businesses remain shut.
Oscar contender “Jojo Rabbit” pulled out of its Feb. 12 China debut “out of consideration for the enclosed spaces of cinemas and the risk of transmitting the disease,” according to a statement from the National Arthouse Alliance of Cinemas, which was distributing it in a limited release.
- 2/3/2020
- by Rebecca Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Chicago – Season Nine of Chicago’s Asian Pop-Up Cinema (Apuc), continues on Thursday, September 19th, 2019, with the North American Premiere of China’s “The Enigma of Arrival.” Director Song Wen will appear on behalf of the film, moderated by Jennifer Dorothy Lee of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. at AMC River East 21 in downtown Chicago. For more details and tickets, click here.
“The Enigma of Arrival” involves a group of teenage friends who reunite after college after many years. They’ve not seen each other since the disappearance of DongDong (Gu Xuan), a girl that all of them had a crush on. The circumstances of her disappearance was the cause that ended their friendships initially, and a lot had remained unsaid between them. Until now.
Apuc Season Nine Continues with ‘The Enigma of Arrival’ from China
Photo credit: AsianPopUpCinema.org
This North American Premiere will be part...
“The Enigma of Arrival” involves a group of teenage friends who reunite after college after many years. They’ve not seen each other since the disappearance of DongDong (Gu Xuan), a girl that all of them had a crush on. The circumstances of her disappearance was the cause that ended their friendships initially, and a lot had remained unsaid between them. Until now.
Apuc Season Nine Continues with ‘The Enigma of Arrival’ from China
Photo credit: AsianPopUpCinema.org
This North American Premiere will be part...
- 9/19/2019
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
The first feature of the Chinese director Song Wen, “The Enigma of Arrival” enjoys a world-premiere at the 23rd Busan International Film Festival. What better Festival than the Korean one to introduce this very auteur and arthouse movie?
The Enigma of Arrival is having its world premiere at Busan International Film Festival
The film starts with a dinner-meeting in what seems to be a very Japanese house/onsen. Four men gather and an altercation arises. Despite the voice-over, the spectator is still as confused as at the beginning of every “Law & Order” episode. The time, place and characters aren’t really clear yet. Little by little, we understand that the four men actually used to be close friends. They met a girl, Dongdong (played by Xuan Gu). The girl disappeared. The main character, Xiaolong (played by rising actor Li Xian) is willing to do what it takes to find out the truth.
The Enigma of Arrival is having its world premiere at Busan International Film Festival
The film starts with a dinner-meeting in what seems to be a very Japanese house/onsen. Four men gather and an altercation arises. Despite the voice-over, the spectator is still as confused as at the beginning of every “Law & Order” episode. The time, place and characters aren’t really clear yet. Little by little, we understand that the four men actually used to be close friends. They met a girl, Dongdong (played by Xuan Gu). The girl disappeared. The main character, Xiaolong (played by rising actor Li Xian) is willing to do what it takes to find out the truth.
- 10/10/2018
- by Oriana Virone
- AsianMoviePulse
As China is set to take over North America to become the single largest film market within the next years, more attention will/should be paid to its formidable and ever-expanding supply of home-grown talents. With the world premiere of his debut feature The Enigma of Arrival in Busan, the spotlight is on writer/director Song Wen, best known for founding the Xining First International Film Festival which, for its celebration of non-mainstream films and emerging filmmakers, is sometimes referred to as the Chinese Sundance.
This background is telling, for Song’s approach to this multiplex-friendly, nostalgia-laced dramatic thriller is not without arthouse aspirations. And while it ultimately doesn’t meet some of its loftier goals, it’s a surprise nonetheless to find such dreamy, strikingly sensitive tone in an essentially commercial picture.
The film opens with an intriguing sort-of prologue. The thoughtful, weary voice of narrator San Pi (Liu...
This background is telling, for Song’s approach to this multiplex-friendly, nostalgia-laced dramatic thriller is not without arthouse aspirations. And while it ultimately doesn’t meet some of its loftier goals, it’s a surprise nonetheless to find such dreamy, strikingly sensitive tone in an essentially commercial picture.
The film opens with an intriguing sort-of prologue. The thoughtful, weary voice of narrator San Pi (Liu...
- 10/7/2018
- by Zhuo-Ning Su
- The Film Stage
The event is focused on the arthouse and independent areas of Chinese cinema.
Perched high on the Tibetan plateau, the city of Xining hosts the First International Film Festival, an event that is firmly focused on the arthouse and independent end of the Chinese cinema spectrum.
The annual event, which this year ran July 21-30, is committed to supporting young talent that may not find a berth in more mainstream Chinese festivals. Almost every Chinese filmmaker who has popped up on the international festival circuit over the past few years – including Cai Chengjie (The Widowed Witch), Xin Yukun (The Coffin...
Perched high on the Tibetan plateau, the city of Xining hosts the First International Film Festival, an event that is firmly focused on the arthouse and independent end of the Chinese cinema spectrum.
The annual event, which this year ran July 21-30, is committed to supporting young talent that may not find a berth in more mainstream Chinese festivals. Almost every Chinese filmmaker who has popped up on the international festival circuit over the past few years – including Cai Chengjie (The Widowed Witch), Xin Yukun (The Coffin...
- 7/30/2018
- by Liz Shackleton
- ScreenDaily
The event is focused on the arthouse and independent areas of Chinese cinema.
Perched high on the Tibetan plateau, the city of Xining hosts the First International Film Festival, an event that is firmly focused on the arthouse and independent end of the Chinese cinema spectrum.
The annual event, which this year ran July 21-30, is committed to supporting young talent that may not find a berth in more mainstream Chinese festivals. Almost every Chinese filmmaker who has popped up on the international festival circuit over the past few years – including Cai Chengjie (The Widowed Witch), Xin Yukun (The Coffin...
Perched high on the Tibetan plateau, the city of Xining hosts the First International Film Festival, an event that is firmly focused on the arthouse and independent end of the Chinese cinema spectrum.
The annual event, which this year ran July 21-30, is committed to supporting young talent that may not find a berth in more mainstream Chinese festivals. Almost every Chinese filmmaker who has popped up on the international festival circuit over the past few years – including Cai Chengjie (The Widowed Witch), Xin Yukun (The Coffin...
- 7/30/2018
- by Liz Shackleton
- ScreenDaily
Slate includes new titles from Jiang Wen, Zhang Yang, Wang Xiaoshuai and Hong Kong’s Ann Hui.
China’s Hehe Pictures has unveiled a production slate of 14 films for 2018, including new projects from leading arthouse filmmakers such as Zhang Yang, Wang Xiaoshuai and Hong Kong’s Ann Hui.
Hehe also announced its involvement in Jiang Wen’s Hidden Man, which will receive a Gala screening at Toronto International Film Festival, as one of the investors along with Gravity Pictures, Flagship Entertainment and Hong Kong’s Emperor Motion Pictures. Currently on release in China, the film has grossed $86m (RMB564m) in 13 days.
China’s Hehe Pictures has unveiled a production slate of 14 films for 2018, including new projects from leading arthouse filmmakers such as Zhang Yang, Wang Xiaoshuai and Hong Kong’s Ann Hui.
Hehe also announced its involvement in Jiang Wen’s Hidden Man, which will receive a Gala screening at Toronto International Film Festival, as one of the investors along with Gravity Pictures, Flagship Entertainment and Hong Kong’s Emperor Motion Pictures. Currently on release in China, the film has grossed $86m (RMB564m) in 13 days.
- 7/28/2018
- by Liz Shackleton
- ScreenDaily
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.