On April 26th, the 14th Beijing International Film Festival closing ceremony was held as scheduled, unveiling the “Tiantan Award” winners. Director Chen Kaige (陳凱歌) was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s festival. Actor Li Xuejian (李雪健) presented the award, and the audience spontaneously stood up to pay tribute to Director Chen Kaige during the award ceremony.
Chen Kaige stated, “Today, I want to say to those who want to make films, never give up no matter what difficulties you encounter. In fact, what has accompanied me in my creativity over the past forty years are various anxieties, worries, and sleeplessness. ‘Drawing a knife to cut the water makes the water flow more, lifting a glass to drown the sorrows makes the sorrows grow,’ but at this moment, I suddenly understood, I fell in love with film. It’s a connection of emotions that can’t be cut cleanly, which made me realize that wanting to make a decent film is impossible without difficulties and pain.”
Since his debut film “Yellow Earth” <黃土地> in 1984, Chen Kaige’s 40-year directing career has brought many award-winning works and made outstanding contributions to the development of Chinese cinema.
