On June 18, 2016, organized by CAFA, co-organized by the School of Urban Design and CAFA Art Museum, Agnès Varda’s Award 2016 successfully held celebration events at CAFA Art Museum, including one open class, screening of the finalists and the award ceremony. Chairman of the Ali Music Group, famous musician, film director Gao Xiaosong served as Chairman of the jury of Agnès Varda’s Award 2016 and awarded the “Star of the Year”, in addition, 17 videoworks won the Agnès Varda’s Award 2016.

Fan Di’an, President of CAFA, Deputy Director of the National Art Education Committee, Xu Bing, an artist and Director of Academic Committee at CAFA, Wang Zhong, a sculptor and Dean of the School of Urban Design, Anthony LaMolinara, winner of the Oscar Award for Best Visual Effects, Giovanna Fulvi, a film critic of the Toronto International Film Festival, Xu Feng, a scholar of French films, a member of the commission of Agnès Varda’s Award and a professor at the Central Academy of Drama, Shang Shi, Secretary-General of Toronto Chinese and Western Filmmakers Union and the curatorial manager Sun Wenjing, Xie Ning, Deputy Director-General of China Film Post-Production Industry Association and Vice President of Base FX, Gong Chaohui, Secretary-General of China FilmPost-Production Industry Association, Yang Haogang, General Manager of Beijing + Star Universe Culture Media Co., Ltd., General Director Bai Yu and General Producer Zhang Nan, Ai Qing, Deputy Director of Department of Film and TV at Shanghai Jiaotong University attended the award ceremony.

The award ceremony was presided over by the President of the Commission of Agnès Varda’s Award, famous director Ning Ying. President of CAFA Fan Di’an addressed the award ceremony and said that Agnès Varda’s Award was established in CAFA, which was both the embodiment of the new development of Chinese films especially the creation and production of shorts, and an important symbol of the professional teaching and academic construction of CAFA. With the new development of Chinese films, CAFA actively engaged inthe professional adjustment, to form a new professional layout, while the video discipline was the combination of artistic shaping and video creation, the combination of Chinese cultural resources and the worldwide cultural visionwhich was the new development of CAFA. Fan also praised the newdevelopment of video creation and production of CAFA in recent years, and theAgnès Varda’s Award was also part of the force to promote professionaldevelopment, effectively reforming and exploring art education.

An open class was held in the afternoon, Wang Shaojun, Vice President of CAFA addressed the opening ceremony and said that, Agnès Varda’s Award encouraged the experimental creation, but it was not a simple experiment, but to have a deeper understanding of the cultural meaning, manufacturing and usin ginformation to create an original video work. At the open class by Base FX, the audience had an opportunity to see the production process and details of  both the familiar and strange film special effects, “the special effects of the film is an hidden art”, although one can independently finish a variety of imagined scenes, but the responsibility of filmmaking is still to “help the director to tell a good story”.

In the evening of the award ceremony, the Chairman of the Ali Music Group, famous musician, film director Gao Xiaosong was awarded the “Star of the Year” and winner of the Oscar Award for Best Visual Effects Anthony LaMolinara awarded him the prize. “Star of the Year” intends to focus on the remarkable figures in the film industry to set examples for the young video artists, stimulating them to create and innovate. Following Agnès Varda, Wu Ershan and Cui Jian,Gao Xiaosong won the prize. In addition, Agnès Varda’s Award 2016 selected 172 shorts with a variety of styles and themes from more than 500 student works from 23 colleges of art across the country, and 48 pieces entered the semi-final, and 17 works finally won prizes. Specific prizes are as follows:

Winners of the Gold Prize:

Li Wen’s “Wu Ling”, Chang Yongliang’s “Street Child”, Wang Jingwen’s “8/ Eight”

Winners of the Silver Prize:

Zhou Siyao’s “Hao’s Daily War”, Hu Guohan’s “0041/ Zero Zero Four One”, Xu Lingling’s “I am a Monster?”, Dong Hao’s “The Tip of the Nest Visitor”

Winners of the Bronze Prize:

Liu Buowen’s “The Last Crime”, Qi Yafei’s “The Bird Nest in Fog”, Wang Tianxing’s “Kill the Fish”, Zhang Mingzhe’s “Game Fowl”, Zhang Qiang’s “Black Flight”, Lu Yanling’s “The Last Wish”, Zhao Xu’s “The Sheep in the City”, Li Hongbiao’s “Spirit Mountain”, Li Fei’s “Gentlemen”

It also added some other awards of the year, including “Toronto Chinese and Western Films Union New Force Prize” by Toronto Chinese and Western Filmmakers Union, and the winners include Li Wen’s experimental film “WuLing”, Hu Guohan’s narrative film “0041/ Zero Zero Four One”, Xie Chenglin’s animated film “Life Smartphone”. The winning directors will be invited to 2016 Toronto International Film Festival for an exchange event. At the same time, all the shortlisted shorts will be publicly shown at the Toronto International Film Festival. In addition to encouraging the experimental spirit and cross-border creation, the award also focuses on the high-tech frontier of filmmaking. It also created a “Film Asset Award”, and the jury was composed of the China Film Post-Production Industry Association, Beijing + Star Universe Culture Media Co., Ltd., and Base FX, to select the winners from the graduation works of CAFA, and Geng Yinhua’s transportation tool design “Cinderella” won the“Alliance Award”, Zhang Huaitian’s sculpture “Siege”, Liu Chuanchuan’s picture book “Magic Planning Bureau” and Wang Yuchen’s digital media “Kaffa” won the“+ Star Méliès Award”, Tang Yukun’s oil painting “Doujiang Falls” won the “Base Academy Award”. The scholarships are sponsored by Beijing + Star Universe Culture Media Co., Ltd. and Base FX.

Text by Zhang Wenzhi, Photo by Zhang Wenzhi, Hu Zhiheng/CAFA ART INFO

Translated by Chen Peihua and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO

Agnès Varda’s Award was established by the famous French New Wave director Agnès Varda from the Department of Film and Video Art of the School of Urban Design, CAFA in 2012, intending to promote the experimental, artistic and inclusive qualities of video creation. Encouraging cross-border creation, creation of experimental video, to award and discover the talented young artists and students, allowing the experimental spirit that enters the mainstream contemporary video creation.