The 6th Hainan Island International Film Festival (HIIFF) "Young Coconut Project" Venture Training Camp announced its jury lineup today, with Li Fenghua, Liang Ying, Liao Xi, Liu Jiangjiang, Liu Yanwenjun, and Wu Lang serving as jurors. Currently, the jury has completed the selection of the Top 15 short film projects, and the list of the Top 15 projects was announced on September 14.
The 6th HIIFF is hosting the "Young Coconut Project" Venture Training Camp (HIIFF Talents) for the first time. As a core industry event, it supports young directors in shooting short films, providing emerging creators with immediate opportunities to start filming and helping the short film dreams of young filmmakers solidly take root.
This year's "Young Coconut Project" Venture Training Camp received a total of 475 valid project submissions over 59 days. To ensure the professionalism of the project selection, the "Young Coconut Project" invited six senior filmmakers to form the jury. The following is the jury list for this year's "Young Coconut Project" Venture Training Camp: Li Fenghua, Executive Deputy General Manager of Mahua FunAge Pictures; Liang Ying, Producer; Liao Xi, Director, Executive Producer, Producer, and Screenwriter; Liu Jiangjiang, Director and Screenwriter; Liu Yanwenjun, Director and Screenwriter; and Wu Lang, Director and Screenwriter. (Listed in alphabetical order by surname pinyin)
Li Fenghua
Li Fenghua
Executive Deputy General Manager of Mahua FunAge Pictures
Mahua FunAge established a professional film and television production team in 2012. With critical and commercial success of films such as Goodbye Mr. Loser, Mr. Donkey, Never Say Die, and Moon Man, "Mahua FunAge Movies" has become a well-known comedy film brand in China, with a total box office exceeding 3.2 billion yuan for its produced films.
Liang Ying
Liang Ying
Producer
Worked in film and television co-production in France from 2008 to 2012, and participated in several international co-production projects while at Asian Shadows from 2012 to 2018. From 2018 to 2022, she was a partner at Factory Gate Film Industry, with producing credits including Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains, Summer of Changsha, and Stories of Yong'an Town. As an independent producer, her works include Only the River Flows and the English-language film The Giant. She has served as a lecturer or venture jury member for several workshops at home and abroad, including the Locarno Open Doors.
Liao Xi
Liao Xi
Director | Executive Producer | Producer | Screenwriter
Has participated in the production of multiple influential films, which have been selected for major domestic and international film festivals such as the Cannes International Film Festival, the San Sebastián International Film Festival, the Shanghai International Film Festival, the Beijing International Film Festival, and the Pingyao International Film Exhibition, winning multiple awards. Major representative works include Their Names Are Red, The Defenders, Ala Changso, The Pluto Moment, Lamu and Gabe, Fish Under the Ice, and Days and Nights on the River.
Liu Jiangjiang
Liu Jiangjiang
Director | Screenwriter
In 2022, his directorial and screenwriting debut feature film Lighting Up the Stars won the Best Directorial Debut at the 35th Golden Rooster Awards and the 2021-2022 Annual Honor Screenwriter at the 3rd Light and Shadow China Honor Ceremony. Director Liu Jiangjiang excels at capturing and constructing the authentic atmosphere of daily life and grassroots characters. In Lighting Up the Stars, Liu captured the everyday details of the funeral industry with keen insight, portrayed the delicate inner emotions of the characters with precise empathy, and presented the heavy topic of life with a humorous and warm touch. His new film Safe and Sound is coming soon.
Liu Yanwenjun
Liu Yanwenjun
Director | Screenwriter
Holds a Master's in Filmmaking from the London Film School and a Master's in Digital Art from Wuhan University. Served as assistant director on films such as The Taking of Tiger Mountain and Cloud in the Wind, and filmed the documentary She Recognized the Storm for director Ann Hui's feature film The Golden Era. Her directed short films, including Let's Sunbathe Together, Colors of Summer, The Last Love, and National Day Holiday, have been selected for multiple film festivals. Her feature screenplay I Am Another You won the "Xiayan Cup" Creative Film Screenplay Award.
Wu Lang
Wu Lang
Director | Screenwriter
Graduated from the Sculpture Department of the Academy of Fine Arts, Hainan University, and began working as a film director and screenwriter in 2013. In 2021, Snow Cloud was selected for the Main Competition Short Film Section of the 74th Cannes Film Festival; in the same year, it won Best Short Film at the 22nd Milan International Film Festival. In 2022, the feature film of the same name, Snow Cloud, completed filming and received a nomination for Best Film in the Encounters section of the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival. In 2023, Short Film Story was selected for the Short Film Competition Section of the 80th Venice International Film Festival. In 2024, his new short film A Distant Afternoon was selected for the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Competition Section of the 72nd San Sebastián International Film Festival.
During the project selection process, the six jurors reviewed hundreds of venture project materials, meticulously uncovering the potential value of each project to ensure that every project received a fair and objective evaluation. At the "Young Coconut Project" Venture Training Camp jury meeting on September 12, the jurors conducted multiple rounds of discussion and ultimately selected 15 outstanding short film venture projects. (Related link: Top 15 List Announced)
During their discussions, the jurors emphasized the "contemporaneity" and "immediacy" of film creation. The "Young Coconut Project" Venture Training Camp hopes to build a platform for immediate creation for young filmmakers, transforming current artistic concepts into visualized finished films, thereby showcasing their directorial capabilities and artistic talents, and helping them win more opportunities to direct.
We thank the jurors for their hard work! The "Young Coconut Project" Venture Training Camp, together with the jurors, will continue to follow the emergence of the Top 8 projects and their subsequent filming and production, looking forward to the final Top 8 projects taking shape as completed films.
