It's Raining, Actors Attend Beijing International Film Festival Using Transparent Umbrellas

JAKARTA - Beijing's 15th International Film Festival (The 15th Beijing International Film Festival/BJIFF) opened in the pouring rain on Friday (18/4) local time.

Actors, directors and other film people attended the opening ceremony and a red carpet event held in an open area at the Yanqi Lake International Convention and Exhibition Center in Huairou District, Beijing, China, despite the rain.

The invitees came to the venue for the event to carry a transparent umbrella.

American-China actress Joan Chen, who was a judge at the festival, said this was the first time in decades of her career on the red carpet when it rained.

The opening ceremony of the film festival includes the appearance of figures in Chinese classic films as a tribute.

Actress Zhang Yuqi and actor Xu Weizhou appear like characters played bytricy Cheung and Tony Leung in the film "In the Mood for Love."

In addition, actors who look like Bruce Lee in the film "Jingwumen" as well as actors and actresses wearing astronaut costumes are like in the classic film "The Wandering Earth."

The implementation of the 2025 BJIFF coincides with three important warnings, namely 130 years since the first film made by the Lumiere brothers, 120 years of the first film in China, and 15 years of the BJIFF.

The Tiantan Award jury, the award name at the festival, was led by Chinese actor and director Jiang Wen. Its members include actress Joan Chen, Chinese actress Ni Ni, Finnish filmmaker Teemu Nikki, Swiss actors Vincent Perez, director David Yates, and costume designer Tim total.

Jiang Wen in an interview session on the red carpet said that the most interesting part of watching a movie is considering who the audience is and how everyone will interpret it from their own perspective.

Meanwhile, David Yates revealed that it was his first time attending a film festival in Beijing and was impressed by the scale of the festival.

"Thank you for the rain, it's beautiful. I'm impressed by the spectacle, scale, and splendor of everything here. It's great and beautiful to experience, and most importantly, a very warm welcome for people from abroad," said Yates, who directed four Harry Potter films.

Young stars like Zhang Zifeng who played in the films "Hi, Mom" and "Sister" as well as the cast of the film "City of Rock" Ouyang Nana participated in celebrating the 2025 BJIFF red carpet event.

Other actors who appeared on the red carpet include actress Ni Ni who starred in the films "The Flowers of War" and "Love Will Tear Us apart", the cast of the film "The Longest Day in Chang'an" Tan Jianci, the cast of the film "The Shadow Play" Ou Hao, the cast of the film "Love Like the Galaxy" Wu Lei, as well as the cast of the film "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" Zhang Yuqi.

The film festival was also attended by well-known directors Guan Hu ("The Eight Hundred" and "Black Dog") and Chen Jianbin ("A Pool").

The 15th BJIFF committee received 1,794 films from 103 countries and territories, an increase of 18.9 percent from the total 1,509 films received at last year's festival.

The jury will select 10 Tiantan award recipients from 15 nominated films, including three Chinese films.

About 300 new and old films from inside and outside China will be shown in 34 theaters at the 15th BJIFF Panorama event.

The 1995 romantic drama film "Before Sunrise" directed by American director Richard Linklater became the best-selling film at the event.

A total of 3,183 tickets for the five film screenings were sold within two hours of the ticket sales service opening.

According to the Chinese government, domestic films still dominate box-office. The market share will reach 78.68 percent by 2024 according to data from China's Film Administration.

The animated film "Ne Zha 2" is even ranked fifth on the list of best-selling global box-office films of all time.