The Beijing International Film Festival will go ahead after all, organizers announced Wednesday.
The festival was originally scheduled for late April, but was postponed in March due to the coronavirus outbreak. It was replaced with a hastily pulled together online event in early May, operated in partnership with streaming platform iQIYI.
Now, the 10th edition of the BJIFF will run Aug. 22-29, state media reported. No details were available of the festival’s structure, program or locations.
However, state media reported that the festival released a video clip containing congratulatory messages from Chinese actress Zhou Xun, director Lu Chuan and Danish film-maker Bille August.
Chinese cinemas reopened ten days ago, having been closed for five months from late January. The first theaters to open were in low risk parts of the country. Cinemas in Beijing joined the reopening movement over the weekend.
Two other Chinese film festivals, those in Shanghai and the First Festival in Xining, are currently in operation. Shanghai says it is dispensing with in-person opening, closing and prize events, however it has held industry-focused seminars with guests arranged together on a stage. Invitations to foreign visitors were not issued this time.
China reported 101 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, the highest number in over 3 months, the National Health Commission said. Most of the new cases have been reported in the far-flung Xinjiang region, or in Liaoning Province, which includes the coastal city of Dalian. One new case reported on Wednesday in Beijing was believed to be linked to the Dalian cluster. The new cases lifted China’s coronavirus infection total to 84,060. There have been 4,634 deaths.