Film festival recognizes young international talent

The 24th International Student Film and Video Festival, an annual event that recognizes young talent, recently kicked off at the Beijing Film Academy and will run until Nov 14.

This year's festival has 72 short-listed works selected from 3,401 projects from 105 countries and regions competing in its various sectors.

For the first time since the festival debuted in 2001, two new sectors were introduced that center on artificial intelligence-generated content and micro-short films, aiming to explore diverse genres of cinematic art.

The festival's eight-member jury panel is chaired by famed Bosnian filmmaker Danis Tanovic. Other jurors include animation filmmaker Chen Liaoyu, known for the hit series Yao-Chinese Folktales, and Stanislav Semerdjiev, the executive director of the International Association of Film and TV schools.

Li Yi, director of the Beijing Municipal Education Commission, says the festival serves as an international platform that integrates practice, exhibition, competition, and exchange, forming a closed-loop mechanism for nurturing artistic talent. He encouraged young creators to embrace cultural diversity with an open mind and to participate in international exchanges with confidence and inclusiveness.

Hu Qiang, president of the Beijing Film Academy, expressed hope that young filmmakers worldwide will use cinema — a language that transcends borders — to showcase the beauty of different civilizations and tell heartwarming stories.