The 15th edition of the Beijing International Film Festival will feature 15 films in its Forward Future section, which highlights first and second features from new directors. Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr will serve as jury president for the section. The festival runs April 18 to 26 in Beijing.
Established in 2014, Forward Future is dedicated to directors early in their careers. This year’s program includes titles from China, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Two Chinese titles, The Botanist by Jing Yi and Floating Clouds Obscure the Sun by Tao Shen, are part of the lineup. The Botanist made its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.
Also screening in the section are Peacock by Austrian writer-director Bernhard Wenger, The Lonely Musketeer by Nicolai Schumann, and The Poet by Felix Umarov. Other selections include Nobody Wants to Shoot a Woman by Kerry Ann Enright, My Eternal Summer by Sylvia Le Fanu, and At the Bench by Yoshiyuki Okuyama.
Joining Tarr on the jury are Chinese actress Jin Chen, actor Song Yang, Japanese filmmaker Sabu, and Swiss director Cyril Schäublin. The group will select recipients of the section’s dedicated awards.
The festival’s main competition, which awards the Tiantan Prize, will be led by Chinese actor-director Jiang Wen. Other jurors for the main competition include Joan Chen, David Yates, Ni Ni, Teemu Nikki, Vincent Perez, and art director Tim Yip.
The complete Forward Future lineup consists of:
Nobody Wants to Shoot a Woman (Kerry Ann Enright)
My Eternal Summer (Sylvia Le Fanu)
At the Bench (Yoshiyuki Okuyama)
The Lonely Musketeer (Nicolai Schumann)
Espina (Daniel Poler)
Peacock (Bernhard Wenger)
The Poet (Felix Umarov)
Sugar Island (Johanné Gómez Terrero)
Our Lovely Pig Slaughter (Adam Martinec)
In the Name of Blood (Akaki Popkhadze)
Mongrels (Jerome Yoo)
Nyamula (Oskar Weimar)
It Is Only Sound That Remains (Ali Farahmand)
Floating Clouds Obscure the Sun (Tao Shen)
The Botanist (Jing Yi)
A new festival poster has been introduced for this year’s edition, designed by Huo Tingxiao. Huo has worked as an art director on Farewell My Concubine, Hero, and House of Flying Daggers. His design incorporates a kaleidoscope pattern, using rings built around the festival’s windmill logo. At the center is a symbolic “Morning Star,” positioned in the night sky. The star is described by organizers as representing cinema’s role as a guiding light.
An additional element within the poster references the caisson ceiling of the Wanchun Pavilion in Beijing’s Forbidden City. Organizers describe the caisson as a symbol of craftsmanship and visual storytelling, comparing its structure to the detail and imagination involved in filmmaking.
Festival officials describe this visual approach as a nod to traditional architecture combined with cinematic expression, framed by the idea of Beijing as a site of cultural and artistic connection.