International student film festival promotes universal language

The 24th International Student Film and Video Festival recently concluded at the Beijing Film Academy, with SOLOS — an unlikely children's movie — becoming the biggest winner by taking home the Best Fiction award.

Directed by Zhong Yu'ang, a 25-year-old filmmaker who graduated from the academy's Department of Cinematography, SOLOS centers on Sun Yue, a fifth-grade boy who is asked by his teacher to dress as a girl and participate in a choir competition to address the gender imbalance in the performance.

The French short film, Not to Die Alone, won two heavyweight awards — Tommy Boulet for Best Director and Ambrym Guedin for Best Performance — while Best Screenplay went to the Chinese film Shun Liu Er Xia (Going with the Flow), about a mother's longing for her late daughter who died in the Wenchuan earthquake.

The festival presented 13 awards, selected from 72 short-listed short films out of 3,401 submissions from 105 countries and regions competing in various sections.

Bosnian filmmaker Danis Tanovic, who served as the jury president, said he hopes the festival will continue to expand in the future to bring more outstanding works from young filmmakers around the world, and attract broader participation.

As a universal language that transcends borders, cinema possesses an incomparable power in promoting mutual understanding among humanity, Tanovic added.