'Vision Beijing' kicks off

"Vision Beijing" -- a joint effort by world-known film directors to promote the image of Beijing in the lead-up to the 2008 Olympic Games -- was kicked off on Thursday.

A ceremony was held at Beijing's Ming City Wall Park where the famous Corner Tower is located. Red lanterns were lit around the Corner Tower, featuring a typical Chinese cultural taste.

Dignitaries attending the ceremony were Italian director Giuseppe Torenatore, whose works include The Legend of 1900, Cinema Paradiso (Extended Version), and Wang Hui, director of the Beijing Municipal Information Office and vice director of the Media and Communications Department of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), Chen Luming, senior vice president of SOHO company, as well as a number of famous Chinese film directors and actors.

Organized by the Beijing Association for Cultural Exchanges with Foreign Countries, the "Vision Beijing" program aims at choosing five world-known film directors to each shoot a five-minute -long footage for the publicity of Beijing.

Iranian director Majid Majidi, who directed Baran (Rain), The Color of Paradise and Children of Heaven, also responded actively to the program. In a recent visit to Beijing, he said he would make the young generation a theme of his work. "To showcase Beijing in five minutes is very difficult, but I will do my best," he said.


Vice Director of BOCOG Media and Communications Department Wang Hui


Senior Vice President of SOHU Company Chen Luming at the ceremony


Chinese film actor Yuan Li at the ceremony


Chinese film actor Wang Luoyong at the ceremony

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