Beijing Int'l Film Festival to Screen David Lynch Retrospective

By Justine Lopez

The Beijing International Film Festival is heading back to town, and it’s shaping up to be a pretty exciting affair. During the 16-day festival over 500 films will be shown at 30 cinemas across the capital.

The 7th Beijing International Film Festival will be held from April 16 to 23, though screenings will begin April 8. A number of celebrities are expected to attend the festival, including British actor Sir Ben Kingsley, Italian actress Monica Bellucci and Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica.

Organizers have announced that this year’s festival will feature a retrospective on David Lynch’s work. Although Lynch will not be attending the festival, many of his iconic films will be screened for the first time on the Mainland, including Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, The Straight Story, Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire. The documentary, David Lynch: The Art Life will also be shown, Hollywood Reporter reports.

Academy award-winning director Bille August will head the international panel to determine the winner of this year’s Tiantan Award. The acclaimed Danish director will choose from 15 films that have yet to be announced.

A retrospective of August’s work will also be featured at the festival and tributes will be given to directors Sylvia Chang and Michelangelo Antonioni.

Although the full lineup of films has yet to be finalized, festival-goers can expect a wide selection of classic films to be shown, including The Leopard (1963), Gone with the Wind (1939) and Doctor Zhivago (1965). Organizers are also planning to show a slew of acclaimed films from the 2016 festival circuit such as Paul Verhoeven’s Elle, Mike Mills' 20th Century Women, Pedro Almodovar’s Julieta, Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson, Asghar Farhadi’s The Salesman and more.

The organizers have also announced plans to show four films from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and seven from The Fast and the Furious series.  

It is also rumored that Moonlight – the winner of best picture at this year's Oscars – might also make its Mainland debut. But it has not received approval yet.

To stay up to date with festival news, click "Read more" below to the BIFF website.