Beijing Stories

Beijing Stories is an engaging film series reflecting on the recent history and culture of China, Host City of the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games. The series includes a diverse selection of rarely screened films, many from one of the most productive periods of recent Chinese mainland cinema, when the more traditional (and rural) filmmaking of the “Fifth Generation” gave way to the more independent-minded “Sixth Generation” films, which have a more documentary (and urban) feel. Sixth Generation filmmakers bring a more individualistic, anti-romantic lifeview to filmmaking and pay more attention to contemporary urban life, especially those affected by disorientation – a theme that rings true, not only in Beijing, but in any large metropolis worldwide.

The Chinese filmmakers represented in the Beijing Stories program are recognized, internationally, to be among the most significant artists working in China today. Many of the films in the series have won awards at film festivals worldwide.

The Vancouver International Film Festival Society operates one of the largest and most popular film festivals in North America and runs the Vancouver International Film Centre where it programs exceptional festival-style cinema year-round in the state-of-the-art Vancity Theatre. With a mandate to encourage understanding of other nations through the art of cinema, the society programs a unique mix of arts and cultural cinema from over 75 countries and welcomes several hundred filmmakers, film scholars and industry people to Vancouver each year.