The 16th Beijing International Film Festival will run from April 16 to 25 and will go to new lengths in bringing the festival's ceremonies and content to the public, according to a press conference by its organizing committee on Thursday.
The festival will feature 10 major sections, including film screenings, and industry forums, and the Tiantan Award competition, which aims to encourage diversity in global filmmaking.
Citywide events will also expand this year, with large screens across major commercial areas broadcasting key ceremonies and activities.
"This year's film festival will introduce the 'Super Live' program, for the first time broadcasting the opening and closing ceremonies, red carpet events, and related activities simultaneously on large screens across major commercial areas in Beijing. At the same time, a series of film-themed events will be held across the city. From major ceremonies to neighborhood streets, from commercial complexes to the canal waterfront, film culture will be fully integrated into the fabric of the city," said Zhang Jinlin, vice chairman of the Beijing International Film Festival organizing committee. More than 1,800 films from 139 countries and regions have been submitted for the Tiantan Awards, with international entries accounting for 88 percent. Twelve films have been shortlisted in the first batch, including four from China and eight from overseas.
During the festival, around 260 films will be screened at 28 cinemas across Beijing, with over 70 percent of international titles making their China premiere.
16th Beijing International Film Festival to bring film culture to public
At the 2026 Zhongguancun Forum, ongoing in Beijing, global guests are engaging in a diverse range of topics that connect with them both personally and professionally, from food science and sleep technology to the future of AI and digital privacy.
The five-day forum opened on Wednesday and has attracted over 1,000 guests from more than 100 countries and regions to exchange views under the theme of "Full Integration Between Technological and Industrial Innovation". Their diversity is reflected in their wide-ranging views on emerging technologies and scientific advancements.
Some of the guests have come eager to discuss the compelling ideas behind their own businesses. Samuel Godefroy, president and COO of the Global Food Regulatory Science Society, said that food should be seen as the foundation of health and Chinese traditions offer a wealth of knowledge that could inform future food product development worldwide.
"We consider in fact that health starts with food. It's not with medicines, and probably the best medicine is in our food, and there is a tremendous wealth of experience, of knowledge, but also of ingredients that we can harness in Chinese traditions and potentially that could inform the future of development of food products in China and in other parts of the world," said Godefroy.
Renata Redondo Bonaldi, co-founder and CEO of SleepUp Technology, put her attention on the growing challenge of sleep disorders, saying that the demand for accessible solutions to sleep disorders is rising.
"I think we are living now in a very dynamic world where we are sleeping less. So we see a lot of industries, companies and healthcare providers looking for solutions that would prevent sleep disorder and that would treat and diagnose in a more accessible, affordable, and cheaper way at home, so people don't need to go to hospitals to do it. We see big opportunities to apply our technology in the industry, so we are very excited and looking forward to finding industry partners and customers," she said.
For others, the appeal of the gathering is to learn about these and other cutting-edge ideas that are finding applications in the real world.
More than 560 cutting-edge scientific and technological achievements and products have been showcased at the forum. The intelligence zone, featuring robots performing everyday tasks from sorting packages to threading needles, drew the biggest crowds. Technical solutions in frontier fields, such as automatic implantation of invasive brain-computer interface surgeries, also attracted flocks of visitors.
Yuan Jinyun, a mathematician and academician at the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, voiced both excitement and concern about artificial intelligence.
"Nowadays, artificial intelligence is developing rapidly in various industries, especially in the medical field. I'm very excited about it and I hope to learn some new things. AI is developing so fast. In the future, it's possible that artificial intelligence will guide itself. I have a pessimistic view that we will all eventually become the pets of robots," Yuan said.
Anxieties about digital privacy also surfaced alongside discussions of technological innovation at the forum. Jean Zimmermann, general manager of airport advertising company JCDecaux Airport, said he avoids sharing personal data online.
"I'm very curious to hear what the participants will be sharing about privacy. I'm actually very cautious about everything that's cloud, that's online. I personally share nothing on my social media because I think that many people don't really grasp yet that everything that you share will be there forever," said Zimmermann.
"In France, we say to live happy, you need to live in hiding. So I think in general protection of privacy is a key topic," he added.
Founded in 2007, the Zhongguancun Forum has evolved into a global, comprehensive open and high-level international event for enhancing global innovation in science and technology.
Guests at Zhongguancun Forum engage in diverse topics, from sleep health to privacy protection
