The closing and awards ceremony on Tuesday of the 3rd Beijing International Film Festival (BIFF), which ran from April 16 to 23, was attended by A-list celebrities such as Jacky Chan, Keanu Reeves and director Luc Besson. It brought a glamorous end to the festival and made a great beginning for the newly created Tiantan Award.

Back to 1942 was the top winner of the night taking home the Best Feature Film Award while Australian film Lore, If Only Everyone from Armenia and British film Song for Marion also won two prizes each.

International slant

The most commonly heard comment for this year's festival and the Tiantan Award is that it felt "very international."

With almost 400 screenings of films from all over the world and a lot of forums and Q&A sessions from filmmakers of the nominated films, the festival was well-received by both audiences and the filmmakers.

Pieter Kuijpers, director of Dutch film Manslaughter, said he was proud of coming to the capital but also surprised at being nominated. "It's a very small film with a small budget to be selected in such a big festival," he said at a press conference held on Monday.

Seven jury members from six different countries selected winners from 15 nominated films. Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov was president of the jury. Other jury members included Cameron Bailey, artistic director of the Toronto International Film Festival; Ivor Benjamin, chair of the Directors Guild of Great Britain; Australian film producer Geoff Brown; Korean director Je-gyu Kang; Gu Changwei, a Chinese cinematographer and director famous for And the Spring Comes (2007) and Peacock (2005); and Chinese director Zhang Yibai.

The diversity of the competing films, which included British film Great Expectations, Gone Fishing from Argentina, German films My German Friend and Home for the Weekend, Iranian film Modest Reception, and Maddened By His Absence as well as What the Day Owes the Night from France, also revealed the festival's ambition of becoming a genuine international film event.

Manslaughter depicts the conflicts between people from different places living in the Netherlands. Australian film Lore tells a story from the viewpoint of children of Nazis, discussing the damage caused by World War II. The King of B-Movie from Mexico shows respect to its B-movie ancestors in a funny and interesting way. Great Expectations, an adaptation of the Dickens novel, features a heavyweight cast with names like Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes.

Famed film critic Mu Weier told the Beijing News that all the nominated films are very representative. Many also competed earlier this year for an Oscar best foreign film. If Only Everyone, was selected as the Armenian entry for best foreign language film at the 85th Academy Awards.

Celebrity strategy

"I think the strategy for the Tiantan Award Committee was to ensure an international level for the awards first and attract the audience's attention through national celebrities," film critic Gao Yuanzhi told the Global Times.

Gao said the general feedback for the 2nd Beijing International Film Festival last year was not as good as expected. Several international filmmakers were dissatisfied with the organization and services provided. This year, with the creation of an international competition, filmmakers were given new motivation to come to China and participate in the third festival.

Similar to many international film festivals like the International Rome Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival, the Tiantan Award gives more opportunity to films from second-tier film industries focusing on art-house productions.

Rather than promoting well-known stars of the global movie industry or fresh new talents from the host country of those famous festivals, BIFF pays more attention to very experienced filmmakers who are not yet recognized by the international audience, said Gao. This means that candidates submitting their works and the award committees and juries selecting their favorites create a two-way system of choice.

In Asia, the choices for film festivals are often the Tokyo International Film Festival and the Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea. In Gao's view, BIFF's Tiantan Award was too new to attract filmmakers seeking a global stage with an established reputation, but on the marketing side, Beijing has more financing opportunities.

"I guess another reason is that [BIFF] hopes to build their personnel network first, both for the festival and for future cooperation between the industries," said Gao.

Pieter Fleury, Head of Netherlands Film Foundation, said that an important part of the festival was the forums, one of which was about international co-productions.

"It shows that the Chinese film industry has climbed to an international level and it is ready to go out to the market and invite big parties to participate," said Fleury.

List of Winners

Best Film  Back to 1942 (China)

Best Director  Cate Shortland Lore (Australia)

Best Actor  Terence Stamp Song for Marion (Britain)

Best Actress  Yan Bingyan FengShui (China)

Best Supporting Actor  Vahagn Simonyan If Only Everyone (Armenia)

Best Supporting Actress  Helena Bonham Carter Great Expectations (Britain)

Best Screenplay  Paul Andrew Williams Song for Marion (Britain)

Best Photography  Lore (Australia)

Best Music  If Only Everyone (Armenia)

Best Visual Effect  Back to 1942 (China)

Special Jury  Inch' Allah (France/Canada)