On 19 April, the AIGC Unit of the Beijing International Film Festival – the Opening Ceremony of the AI Talent Camp / Culture Outreach Talent Programme took place. HBU-UCLan School of Media, Communication and Creative Industries participated deeply in this event as a co-organiser. Professor Lv Yi, Dean of HBU-UCLan; Professor Sion Hughes, Foreign Vice Dean, Deputy Director of the Media Department Huang Fan, and international faculty member Richard Parkinson were invited to attend the opening ceremony.

This event was jointly guided by the National Base for International Cultural Trade (Beijing) and the Beijing International Film Festival Organising Committee Office, and co-organised by Beijing Shouwenke Wenchuang Real Estate Co., Ltd., Beijing Chengzhao Culture Communication Co., Ltd., and the HBU-UCLan School of Media, Communication and Creative Industries. Leveraging the advantages of the cultural export platform, it aims to build a full-chain support system for the high-quality export of Chinese film and television culture.

The opening ceremony was structured around the themes of "Setting Sail: Mission of the Times", "High-End Dialogue: Intersection of Light and Shadow", "Honour and Inheritance: Passing the Torch", and "Voyage: The Future has come", featuring multiple sessions with numerous highlights and profound significance.

Two high-end dialogues closely followed industry frontiers and directly addressed the pain points and opportunities of cultural export. Industry leaders engaged in in-depth discussions around Oriental Aesthetics × AI. In the interview "Digital Rebirth of Oriental Aesthetics: How Chinese Stories Reach the World in the AI Era", hosted by Xu Gehui, the creative concept of "technology as the brush, aesthetics as the soul" was proposed. Subsequently, at the forum "AI Empowering Cultural Export: Convergence and Pursuit of Platforms and Creators", hosted by Zhou Difei, core topics such as the deep integration of AI and film and television creation and the international dissemination of Chinese stories were discussed, sparking ideas for cross-border innovation.

The ceremony included the awarding of certificates to the advisory committee and mentor team. Leveraging the advantages of its Sino-foreign cooperative education and its accumulated expertise in film, television and media, our School contributed international educational resources and youthful creative energy to the event. As the attending guests jointly touched the screen to illuminate the launch panel, the AI Talent Camp / Culture Outreach Talent Programme officially set sail. Our School's representatives posed for a group photo with all guests and participants, capturing the important moment of Sino-foreign collaboration empowering cultural export.

After the opening ceremony, a film industry development exchange meeting was successfully held. Our School's representatives engaged in in-depth exchanges and discussions with attending guests on topics including trends in film and television industry development, practical applications of AI technology, and pathways for the international dissemination of Chinese culture. This further deepened industry-academia-research collaboration and laid a solid foundation for subsequent project implementation and joint talent cultivation.

This participation as a co-organiser in the AI Talent Camp at the Beijing International Film Festival represents another significant practice of the deep integration of industry, academia and research, as well as the development of internationally-minded talents by our School. Our School has always been deeply engaged in the fields of media and creative industries, integrating high-quality Chinese and British educational resources, focusing on areas such as international communication, digital creativity, and film and television creation, to develop versatile talents with both international perspectives and local sensibilities.

In the future, our School will continue to leverage the advantages of its Sino-foreign cooperative education, using AI technology as a key driver, connecting with high-quality industry resources, and building an integrated platform for teaching, practice and creation. It will assist young teachers and students in telling Chinese stories well and spreading China's voice effectively through digital imagery, contributing the power of media and creativity to the global journey of Chinese culture.