Related stories

General Policy for Volunteers for the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games Two New Opera Houses for Beijing Green Olympics Logo for Beijing Games Unveiled Extended Protection for Beijing's Great Wall Schedule for the 5th "Meet in Beijing" Arts Festival

Majid Majid Begins Shooting for Vision Beijing

“Beijing is an energetic city that excites me very much. I hope to show this city in the film by depicting relationships between people living here.”

Iranian director Majid Majidi was speaking on November 5 at a ceremony marking the beginning of shooting of his five-minute film production in connection with the Vision Beijing project.

Majidi (Weeping Willow, The Color of Paradise, The Children of Heaven), is regarded as one of Iran’s brightest, most philosophical and most respected film-makers. In September, he agreed to make a short film about Beijing as part of the Vision Beijing film project, which will invite five internationally known, highly regarded film-makers to make short films about Beijing and its preparations for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Wang Hui, director of the Information Office of the Beijing Municipal Government, was present at the ceremony held at the Fucheng Yuting Leisure Club. She said Majidi’s movie would be a great success.

Majidi said he was “honoured to be invited here, to avail myself of the opportunity to show Beijing’s glamour to the world.”

“It’s a creative idea, but a challenge, too, to show 5,000 years of culture in five minutes. This means I have to tell 1,000 years of history each minute,” he said jokingly. “It’s hard, but I will try to make it. This is the enchantment of film.

“China and Iran have a long history of friendship via the Silk Road. Though I haven’t been to China often, I have learned a lot from Chinese film. Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige are my favourite Chinese directors,” he said.

According to Majidi, his production will focus on children in China’s capital.

“These days, I went to many schools to scout locations, such as the Shichahai Sports School. The children there were so innocent, lovely and energetic.”

“Children symbolize purity and honesty, and I hope this film will help strengthen ties between the two nations, China and Iran,” he said, adding that he hopes this cultural step will be a beginning for joint production between Iran and China.

The director said he would not use professional actors in his film, but would recruit more than 1,000 children instead.

Vision Beijing is a project of the Beijing Foreign Cultural Exchanges Association and Information Office of the Beijing Municipal Government, organized by the Beijing Foreign Cultural Exchanges Center and Beijing This Month Publications, and assisted by Sun & Sea Culture Communication Company Limited.

Beijing This Month will provide exclusive coverage of this first-of-a-kind event in Beijing.