Chanel the French luxury goods group was this week the prominent sponsor of First Frame, a section of the First International Film Festival in Xining, China.
That’s a bold move considering Chinese authorities’ cautious official positions on feminism, sexual violence. But one that may put the group on the right side of history in the long run. And it may also be justified by the strength of the selected films, which were widely praised.
The section, operated this year for the fourth time, puts its non-exclusionary focus on stories about women by filmmakers of all genders.
According to Chanel, the brand wants to “encourage filmmakers to write about women and introduce more decent female stories to the public.” The 15 films in the section’s program covered a wide range of women’s perspectives; their pain, struggles, thoughts, emotions and relationships.
Zhao Jiayi, the lead actor in “Last Casting Call,” a 2023 First Frame selection, said that the section gave her “an eye-opening experience,” because the filmmakers and the juries selecting prize-winners among them appeared to prioritize stories. “You can tell that listening to women’s voices is the greatest emphasis of this section,” said Zhao.
This year’s all-female First Frame jury was chaired by Ava Cahen, the artistic director of Cannes Critics’ Week, alongside Chinese actor Qin Hailu and Taiwanese producer Yeh Ju-fen.
Qin and Yeh used a press conference to say how surprised they were by the section’s overall film quality. “I could tell that some films had been constrained by budget limitations,” said Yeh. “But they still made the best films that they could. I’m in awe of all of them.”
The section’s top Film of the Year prize went to “Unstoppable,” a documentary feature by Xu Huijing which depicted the journey of Chinese MMA champion Zhang Weili to regaining the Golden Belt award that she lost in 2021 to rival Rose Namajunas. It showed Zhang’s arduous training program, her emotional waves, disagreements with her support team and episodes of loss and pain.
Zhang attended the festival and there said that, “The film recorded the most painful year of my life.” She added: “When I watched myself losing that fight [in the film] and how I tried to get myself together again, it feels like yesterday once more. I couldn’t help crying.”
The film premiered at Xining, earned strongly positive reviews locally and is now seeking foreign distributors.
The prize for short film of the year went to “Braided” a mother-daughter relationship film by Zhang Chenxi and the only animated work in this section. “When Winter Comes” by Yuan Yuan, a short film that follows a Chinese mother going to New York City to find her missing daughter, earned a special mention.