Majid Majidi joins Beijing Filmfest jury

Award-winning Iranian director Majid Majidi has been selected as a jury member at 2019 Beijing International Film Festival (BIFF) in China.

Majidi will be joining seven other filmmakers as part of a jury headed by ‘The Lion King’ director Rob Minkoff who will help decide this year’s Tiantan Award winners.

Joining them will be British filmmaker Simon West known for his 1997 flick ‘ConAir’, Russian filmmaker Sergei Dworzewoi, director Cao Baoping of China, Hong Kong’s Carina Lau and Chilean director Silvio Caiozzi.

The festival will also be hosting 94-minute Iranian romantic comedy ‘Reza’ directed by Alireza Motamedi as part of “Focus on the Future” section.

Director of the religious blockbuster ‘Muhammad: The Messenger of God’, Majid Majidi, has received international recognition for his award-winning flicks.

His 1997 film ‘Children of Heaven’ was the first Iranian film nominated to receive an Academy Award. The director’s later films, ‘The Color of God’ and ‘Baran’, were presented in several international film festivals receiving numerous awards.

Majidi was also one of five international film directors invited by the Chinese government to create a documentary short film in order to introduce Beijing in preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

The 9th annual BIFF will be showcasing a diverse set of films from China and the world, celebrating the country’s 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

Set to run April 13-20, the festival will be screening over 260 films from around the world in venues across Beijing.

MB/AG