On the evening of April 18, the Yanqi Lake was lit up with brilliant lights and starry sky. The 14th BJIFF, with the theme of "Mutual Learning of Light and Shadow and Benefiting Each Other", opened at Yanqi Lake International Convention and Exhibition Center, where excellent filmmakers and masterpieces from all over the world gathered together. Yin Li, Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee, attended the opening ceremony, Hu Heping, Vice Minister of the Central Propaganda Department in charge of daily work, announced the opening of the BJIFF, Shen Haixiong, Vice Minister of the Central Propaganda Department and Director of CCTV, Li Yi, Secretary of the Party Committee, Vice Chairman and Secretary of the Office of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Yin Yong, Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee, Mayor of the city, and Liu Wei, Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee, attended the opening ceremony.

Mr. Shen Haixiong said in his speech that General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that culture can connect hearts and art can communicate with the world. Brilliant light and shadow unite all mankind's pursuit and exploration of common values. With its unique artistic charm, film plays a unique role in promoting civilization exchange and mutual understanding. CCTV and the Beijing Municipal People's Government jointly host the BJIFF every year in the hope of telling the story of China in the new era through the synergy of film and television, promoting exchanges and mutual understanding among civilizations, and injecting deep and lasting cultural power into the promotion of building a community of shared destiny for mankind. Today's world is full of innovation and change, and AI technological innovation and industry applications have brought great imagination and creativity to film and television creation, inspiring infinite possibilities of creativity. CCTV will use AI to empower the new quality productivity and communication power of literary creation and cultural inheritance, and lead the high-quality development of China's film and television industry.

In his speech, Yin Yong expressed his gratitude to friends from all walks of life who have long been concerned about and supported the development of Beijing films. He said that film is an artistic bond that communicates hearts and minds, and also an important way to promote civilization exchange and mutual understanding. As a national cultural center, Beijing is also the birthplace of Chinese films. In recent years, we have adhered to Xi Jinping's cultural thought as a guide, and made the development of the film and television industry an important part of the capital's cultural construction. We have made efforts to optimize industrial support policies, issued 12 measures to promote the high-quality development of the film and television industry, and provided synergistic guarantees for film creation and cinema construction. Efforts will be made to support the innovative development of enterprises, promote the in-depth integration of science and technology with film and television, and provide personalized services for film and television production. Efforts will be made to enhance the service level of talents and create a more open, active and professional development ecology for global filmmakers. We hope that all the guests will take advantage of the festival to exchange experiences, share achievements and deepen cooperation; we sincerely invite friends from the domestic and foreign film industry to come to Beijing for creation, production and distribution, so as to create a better tomorrow for the prosperity and development of the film industry.

 At the opening ceremony, the Minister of Culture of Brazil, the guest of honor, made a video speech. It is understood that this year's festival will hold the main competition unit "Tiantan Award" evaluation, Beijing exhibition, "Beijing Planning - Theme Forum", Film Carnival, the 31st University Student Film Festival, the closing ceremony and awards ceremony and other nine sections of more than 200 activities, the "International Parlor" and "AIGC Unit" were also added. A total of 4,273 films from 118 countries and regions were registered to participate in the event, and it is a record number. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France and the Year of China-France Cultural Tourism. The "French Film Week" is specially launched to show 30 French films with rich themes and different styles in many cinemas in Beijing, including the shortlisted film The Substitute Teacher of the "Tiantan Award" this year, which will be a wonderful journey of light and shadow of France for the film fans.

Wu Yiqin, Fan Yun and Mu Peng, leaders of the relevant departments of the Central Government and Beijing Municipality, attended the event.