Shanxi province cooperates with Beijing College Students Film Festival (BCSFF) for the first time.

A parallel session of the 22nd BCSFF will be held in Shanxi, according to a news conference held at the Communication University of Shanxi, April 13. The organizers said that the Shanxi session of the film festival will open on April 20, and the main activities will be in sync with the Beijing home court.

It’s the first time the BCSFF has set up a provincial level parallel session.

The Shanxi venue will see a variety of activities around the theme of “new start, new force” in universities such as Shanxi University, Taiyuan University of Technology, and Communication University of Shanxi. The activities will include a short film contest, original screenplay contest, film panoramas, film-themed music festival, and film seminars.

The news conference for the Shanxi parallel session of the 22nd BCSFF in Communication University of Shanxi, April 13 [Photo/sxgov.cn]

The 2015 BCSFF has altogether collected 310 domestic movies and more than 2,000 original short films made by college students.

The festival, founded in 1993 by students and teachers of Beijing Normal University, was among the first film festivals to discover some of the most talented domestic filmmakers, such as Zhao Wei and Feng Xiaogang. The jury includes 30 college students across the country and 10 young film scholars.

As the only college student festival with state approval, it aims to promote the development of Chinese film, especially among the younger generation.

Its launch in Shanxi is expected to promote the province’s film and culture to a higher level.