The 12th Beijing International Film Festival ended its eight-day run at the Beijing Yanqi Lake International Convention & Exhibition Center on Saturday. The event's prestigious "Tiantan Awards" were also revealed at the closing ceremony.

"The blind man who did not want to see Titanic" pocketed the Best Feature film while the "The Family" won the Best Director. Eight more prizes were awarded .

The number of films registered for the "Tiantan Award" worldwide this year was 1,450, an increase of 63 percent compared with 2021. Among them are 1,193 foreign films from 88 countries and regions.

A number of Chinese and foreign filmmakers sit on the jury. Veteran Chinese actor Li Xuejian is the president, the international jury of the Tiantan Award this year has six other members – Chinese director Guo Fan, British director Malcolm Clarke, Argentine director Lucrecia Martel, Italian director Michelangelo Frammartino, Chinese actress Qin Hailu, and Chinese director and actor Wu Jing.

The closing ceremony of the Beijing International Film Festival has never been short on A-listers. Under the bright lights and flashing cameras, rising stars and established celebrities dazzled on the red carpet.

Filmmakers from all over the world gather at the closing ceremony 
At the closing ceremony and award ceremony of the 12th Beijing International Film Festival, a montage of "Tiantan Award" shortlisted films called the "The Journey of Light and Shadow " immersed the audience in the dreams of filmmakers around the world. Actor Jin Dong paid tribute to filmmakers who passed away in the past year, including Lan Tianye, Qin Yi and Jacques Behan.

"Beijing Screening" Shows the Prosperity and Vitality of China's Film Market
This year's "Beijing Screening" of the Beijing International Film Festival brought together hundreds of excellent films from home and abroad. Tickets of the screened films got sold out in seconds that film lovers had to race to buy tickets. This shows the huge potential of the Chinese film market and the cultural prosperity behind it.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland. For the first time, the Beijing International Film Festival and the Hong Kong International Film Festival jointly held the "Special Exhibition: Waves of Light and Shadows, New Dynamics of Hong Kong Films", allowing the audience to recall the golden years and appreciate Hong Kong films. 

The 12th Beijing Film Festival also invited Hong Kong singer Aaron Kwok as an ambassador, and communicated with the audience through 3D video.

Three master classes, of Li Xuejian, Er Dongsheng and Ke Wensi, also attracted much attention as they shared their experience in film creation.

Leading the industry trend, driving the integration and innovation of the whole industry chain
In the past 12 years, the "Beijing Market" of the Beijing Film Festival has formed a strong cohesive force in the industry, and has become a landmark event that leads the industry and promotes the development of the industry. The project venture capital unit of the Beijing International Film Festival became the most watched support platform in the global Chinese language film industry. 

The number of registrations for the venture capital unit this year reached a new high. The "Venture Capital Training Camp" has also attracted a large number of young filmmakers. Discovering and cultivating outstanding young film talents and projects has become an important part of the Beijing International Film Festival.

Constantly explore new horizons, pioneering and innovating for Chinese films
The 12th Beijing Film Festival opened up to new ideas and innovations, bringing new hope for the blooming of Chinese film dreams. 
The "movie carnival" not only provided a leisure feast, but also shortened the distance between young audiences and creators through 'screenings while camping' for the first time. The Metaverse also first appeared in the "Beijing Market", creating the world's first "Metaverse Movie Palace". In addition, the Beijing International Film Festival also held the "Focus on the Future" unit, the game/animation film unit, the "Power of Editing" forum, the science and technology unit, the science fiction forum, the short video unit, etc, to explore more possibilities in films.

CGTN broadcasted and livestreamed the opening ceremony of the Beijing International Film Festival in five languages, including English, Spanish, French, Russian.

Attracting huge attention, and showing the vitality and charm of Chinese films

Since the official announcement, the 12th Beijing International Film Festival received a lot of attention at home and abroad. The hashtag #BeijingInternationalFilmFest has 7.3 billion readings, and a total of 16.3 billion readings on related topics. The Chinese Zodiac Fuwa stop-motion animation promotional film also debuted on the Nasdaq screen in Times Square in New York.

In the past 12 years, the road that the Beijing International Film Festival has traveled is like spiritual beacon. It accompanied the voyage of Chinese films, and inspired filmmakers.