01
We are not looking for newness as such, but for what holds in a film: how the author looks at people, how time is handled, and whether the difficult parts are left in the frame.
Films
Official Selection
Every film that reached the final round, listed by edition. Shorts and mid-length work sit on the same stage. The twelve films of 2025 have posters; the first edition of 2022 is held here as a text archive.
How a film gets here
There is no premiere requirement. The preliminary committee draws the finalists from the full entry; the jury then decides the awards by discussion and vote. The executive committee does not intervene.
02
Shorts and mid-length work are weighed by the same standard. A thirteen-minute film and a sixty-minute film sit at the same table. There are no separate sections, and no premiere requirement.
03
Films generated primarily by AI are not accepted. What we care about is a relationship that actually took place between the filmmaker and the people on screen.
2025
Second Edition
The second edition was staged together with the Donghai International Documentary Masterclass Camp in Shitang, Zhejiang — a stone fishing town on the East China Sea known as “the Notre-Dame of the East”. Twelve of 502 entries reached the final round, and five jurors decided the outcome after four hours of debate.
The Homeless地衣
The Third Child第三个孩子
Bitter Rice一座桃花洞
Girl of Wind吹梦无踪
A Woman Trapped in Time困在时间里的她
Corn Corn苞谷苞谷
About the Pink Cocoon过去未来的阵痛
Homeward归途
KaiHong开红
Notes of a Crocodile鳄鱼手记
The Land In Between中间之地
Death Education死亡教育课
2022
First Edition
The first edition called for entries from Chinese-language filmmakers worldwide and received 688 films. Rather than award conventional places, the jury created an Extraordinary Award and gave it to three authors of singular independence and force.
Take part
Send a film, or write first
The 3rd edition has not opened yet. The rules and the submissions address are on the Submit page; screenings, partnerships and press go through Contact.