By Louise Watt
BEIJING (AP) --Chinese director Jia Zhangke, known for films exploring China's wrenching social changes, will host his own festival to showcase the work of young directors and movies from developing countries.
Jia announced Thursday that the Pingyao International Film Festival will be held Oct. 19-26 in the ancient city in the northern province of Shanxi, from where Jia hails.
He told The Associated Press the festival aimed to present outstanding work from around the world and help promote talented young directors.
"During my time at film festivals, I was able to see many very good films from different countries and different cultures, and to consider people's lives, human nature and societies from different angles," Jia said. "These films are brilliant, but they badly need to be introduced to Chinese audiences."
He added: "We mainly hope the films come from regions such as Asia, Latin America and Africa because there is less chance for them to be seen by Chinese audiences," as opposed to films from Europe and North America.
Swiss-Italian producer Marco Mueller, whose works include the Oscar-winning 2001 Bosnian film "No Man's Land," will be the festival's artistic director.
Jia's credits include "A Touch of Sin," nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. Many of his most acclaimed films failed to gain censors' approval to be shown in China.
A company founded by Jia will host all film festivals in the city in conjunction with the local government.
Pingyao was once a famous center of trade and finance and boasts an architectural heritage dating back 2,700 years.
SMPTE elects board officers, regional governors
SMPTE®,the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, has revealed the board officers and regional governors who will serve terms beginning in January 2025.
Three new officers--Richard Welsh as SMPTE president, Eric Gsell as SMPTE executive VP, and Polly Hickling as SMPTE Education VP--have been elected for a two-year term from Jan. 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2026. One SMPTE officer, Lisa Hobbs, will be continuing her service as SMPTE secretary and treasurer for another two-year term. Additionally, Raymond Yeung will be stepping into the role of standards VP on Jan. 1, 2025.
“SMPTE’s membership has spoken,” said SMPTE interim executive director Sally-Ann D’Amato. “These officers have been tasked with an important responsibility, one each of them is prepared to tackle head-on. These next two years are looking bright for SMPTE!”
In addition to the officers, 10 regional governors were elected by the Society to serve two-year 2025-2026 terms.
These include the following regional governors, re-elected to continue their service:
Asia-Pacific Region Governor
Tony Ngai, Society of Motion Imaging Ltd.
EMEA - Central & South America Region Governor
Fernando Bittencourt, FB Consultant
United Kingdom Region Governor
Chris Johns, Sky UK.
USA - Central Region Governor
William T. Hayes, Consultant
USA - Eastern Region Governor
Dover Jeanne Mundt, Riedel Communications
USA - Western Region Governor
Jeffrey F. Way, Open Drives
Also elected were four newcomers to the SMPTE Board:
Canada Region Governor
Jonathan Jobin, Grass Valley
USA - Hollywood Region Governor
Allan Schollnick, Voxx... Read More