Fujian festival supports young talented directors with funds, Wang Ru reports.

Contestants pose with British director Malcolm Clarke at the award ceremony of this year's In Moments Film Festival held in Pingtan, Fujian province, in November. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Director Wang Xiaoshuai recalls when his maiden work, The Days, was shortlisted for a prize in the international forum for new cinema section at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1994.

He was told the prize would be given to the crew with the least funding. At that time, he borrowed money to make films－but he didn't receive the prize, as it was given to a candidate from Russia, who made films with the money he received begging on the street.

Wang told this story in the promotional video of the second In Moments Film Festival, which was held in Pingtan, Fujian province, in November.

Whether they are workers, academics, professors, politicians, I think what we really want to know is who the Chinese people are.

Malcolm Clarke, director, talking about the significance of showing Chinese people’s stories in filmmaking

The festival honored dozens of young filmmakers with prizes of more than 3 million yuan ($470,000) and included forums and workshops.

Organized by the Fujian Film Bureau, the Fujian Administration of Radio and Television, and the Fujian Media Group, the festival aims to support young filmmakers and promote communication among them.

Since the launch of this year's festival in April, it received 1,376 works from 290 educational institutions, including 103 from 26 universities in Taiwan.

Director Emetjan Memet from Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, who has just graduated from the Beijing Film Academy with a master's degree in fine arts, won the best film award in the festival for his short film Accordion, which has won prizes in other competitions.

Memet says: "At 30, I got 300,000 yuan as support fund. It may be a turning point in my life. A student who has just graduated from school doesn't have much money, so the fund is vital for my next film. I will make good use of it."

For prizewinning director Ji Jinglu, the festival has enabled her to reconnect with herself.

"After making a film, I used to feel I no longer had any connection with it, and even negated my feelings about it, like a piece of white paper ready to make the next film," she says. "But by participating in this festival, I found my former self again."

Prizewinning films at the festival include Accordion (left) and Unfinished Lives. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Judges of the festival include Wang, Hu Zhifeng, deputy director of the Beijing Film Academy, and Ruby Chen, co-founder of CNEX Foundation, a nonprofit in the film industry.

Hu says that the festival showed the filmmakers' sense of social care, better imagination and creativity, displaying "life landscapes".

Memet's film shows an amusing story of a Xinjiang boy buying an accordion; award-winning film The Speech focuses on China's fight against SARS in 2003; and Unfinished Lives is about overseas Chinese students and campus security.

"Reflecting the reality is the instinct of every creator and our most affectionate feedback for the environment where we grow up," says Hong Kong film producer Tsui Siu-ming.

Oscar-winning British director Malcolm Clarke urges filmmakers to pay more attention to people and show their stories.

"I often see Chinese documentaries and films talk a lot about China's achievements, but we don't often hear stories of the people who have achieved those things. Whether they are workers, academics, professors, politicians, I think what we really want to know is who the Chinese people are.

"What do they think? Are they afraid? Do they love? Do they fear? Are they wicked? Are they good? True emotions will always travel across oceans," says Clarke.

Contact the writer at wangru1@chinadaily.com.cn