Call for Submissions |FIRST Public Programming, Enrich Yourself
Ten years ago, students in the Class of 2016 at the China Center for Film Art Studies not only had access to the big screens in Theaters 1 and 2 of the Xiao Xitian Art Cinema, but also had their own free “small screen”—
a study room in the basement, equipped with rows of desks and chairs, and a large television that could only play files from a USB drive. That space, totaling less than 30 square meters, became their “Xiaoxiao Art Cinema” and the setting for countless nights of tears and laughter.
For film students, encounters with cinema typically take place in theaters, film archives, and performance halls. But sitting in that basement, their faces illuminated by an old television, was a first for Gen Z.
Announcing titles in advance, hunting for resources, dropping in whenever they pleased, scattered seating—and screening films to the very end even if only two people showed up… Because they love film, because they have films they want to share with others, and because they enjoy the process of watching them together again—this is the purest form of film curation.
Just like Xiao Xiao Art Cinema, every year from spring to early summer, over 200 young FIRST Active Screening curators launch film curation initiatives at more than 100 locations worldwide—
“The destiny of film is to be watched.”
Since 2012, FIRST Active Screenings has weathered cycles of pandemic and technological upheaval, while these secret archives of “being watched” have been meticulously preserved.
Who are the people behind Active Screenings?
In 2024, 57-year-old Shangshu began organizing Active Screenings; this is his third year as a curator. His reason for continuing is succinct: Active Screening enriches himself. He sees himself as an old tree that blooms anew each spring.
In 2025, Xiao Zhang, a recent PhD student, wanted to bring the thoughts and ideas of youth to a more diverse audience, so he got to work at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain!
Zhou Yi, 33, has been at it since 2019. Over the past seven years, he quit his job, grew his hair long, and has been brewing craft beer, organizing youth events, and developing public spaces in Nanchang—all while screening “raw, youthful” filmmaker videos.
Driven by his love for FIRST, Ice organized a pop-up screening in Tianjin in 2023. In 2025, feeling “disillusioned” and lost in life, he organized a second one in London.
“Let’s treat college students to some good food and fresh content”—with this in mind, Lao Yang, having just turned 18 in 2020, stepped into the world of pop-up screenings.
Xiao Wu, 23, organized an independent screening with friends in Guangzhou in 2025. A “longing for connection” is what drives her to do this.
In 2025, Jia Yu curated with ease but was so nervous during post-screening Q&As that her stomach cramped;
At 21, an anxious Peri witnessed a crowd at a FIRST screening—some crying, some laughing—over a rough-edged yet passionate short film. She felt that film shouldn’t be confined to the black box of a cinema; it should take to the streets and mingle with the people. And so, she pressed the play button on another chapter of her life.
Six years ago, 22-year-old Teacher Mu Ma was scouring London for screening venues. Since many Chinese-language independent films rarely see the light of day, she chose to become the one who brings them to audiences.
Man Jie, 27, has organized two rounds of “Active Screenings” at Beijing Jiaotong University.
……
What have they been through?
【Solving Problems in the Face of Crisis】
Owen: At 1:00 a.m. on May 19, 2024, our originally scheduled screening venue was suddenly canceled due to unforeseen circumstances. Yet, just eight hours later, our first event was set to begin, and we already had over 200 online registrants. My team and I rushed through the streets of Hangzhou, contacting managers at one cinema after another to urgently arrange a three-day venue booking. We tapped into every available resource (I’m truly grateful to the teacher who took the initiative to organize the screening and stayed with us the whole time, reassuring us). At that moment, I felt completely overwhelmed—terrified that all our hard work would go to waste. Thankfully, we managed to find an alternative venue at the last minute. We kept setting up the venue until 7:00 a.m. By then, everyone had simply collapsed onto the floor in front of the theater’s reception desk. We were exhausted, sweltering, and anxious, but huddling together brought us a sense of peace.
Ice: On the afternoon of April 10, 2024, we held our first group meeting at Saint Martin’s. At the time, I was actually in a period of uncertainty regarding my career and life choices—my sense of purpose was shattered. So at first, I was very resistant to organizing another screening. I felt I was already in enough of a mess and didn’t want to “make things harder” for myself. But after my friends practically dragged me into starting this project, things gradually shifted, and my thoughts began to clarify bit by bit through the process. When the first group meeting ended, I suddenly realized: maybe this really could be accomplished. Although my current situation differs from what I had originally imagined, and although I once resented my choices so deeply, right now there are more than twenty friends willing to join me in this endeavor.
Han Yonglin: At 12:40 a.m. on May 8, 2024, a member of our team used markers to create a massive poster reading “The destiny of film is to be watched” and hung it in the sky. This solved the problem of not having enough funds to build a large-scale poster stand.
Camel: On the eve of the official screening, since we had many post-screening online Q&As with the director, we racked our brains to resolve technical issues such as echoes, video, and audio in the school cinema. It took us almost an entire day to ensure the smooth running of the post-screening discussions, and the joy and hardship of that experience remain vivid in my memory.
【Breaking the Mold Amid Applause】
Monday, May 13, 2023, 8:00 PM: We were organizing an open-air screening of “Eyes of Truth” short films under the “Nanchang Star” Ferris wheel. A young child strolling along the riverbank was drawn to the animation on the big screen and, like me, sat on the ground at the back of the crowd to watch. About five minutes later, the child’s father, growing impatient, tried to pull the child away, but the child refused to leave. His father, visibly annoyed, picked up the child and walked off, muttering, “Watching this stuff too much will drive you crazy.” After the screening, I shared this experience with the audience, and the whole room burst into laughter. One audience member remarked, “ We watched a collection of wildly diverse micro-films at Nanchang’s most Instagram-famous spot, yet no one was on their phones or taking photos—that in itself is a form of performance art. So, tonight’s open-air screening can be seen as a ‘grand gathering of Nanchang’s crazy people.’” At that moment, the audience erupted once again in applause and laughter.
Ziyu: The most unforgettable moment was when we stuck the huge poster on the backboard of the basketball court. It was a crisp, sunny day—a rarity for that season in Xiamen—and so many unresolved issues suddenly fell into place. Actually, I can recall almost every detail: the moment I saw the beautiful materials created by my design classmates; the moment I sent out the QR code and hundreds of people joined the group chat; the moment we received the video interview from Director Niu Xiaoyu; in that era before AI, the moments of writing down every thought, word by word; the moment “Life’s MacGuffin” popped into my head… Looking back now, it was actually quite naive. It seems the final theme of the exhibition didn’t have much to do with Hitchcock after all, but it had to do with me and with certain life experiences—and that was enough.
Teacher Mu Ma: Once, after a screening ended, the audience didn’t leave right away. Everyone spontaneously stayed in the theater to discuss the film—some shared their interpretations, while others talked about their own life experiences. In that moment, I suddenly realized that film truly establishes a magical connection between different people. For me, that moment was more important than any metric of “event success”; it showed that our film wasn’t just being seen, but had truly entered into a dialogue between people.
【The Curator Who’s Always Crying】
Xiao Wu: May 20, 2025, 3:00 a.m. The two stood in the eerily silent dormitory building, discussing the print run for the event postcards while taking turns closing their eyes.
May 21, 2025, 11:00 p.m. The only way for the poor to save money is to dismantle and move things themselves, blood trickling down our legs, sweat pouring from our brows, we finished assembling the stage. Little did we know that this night had only just begun…
May 24, 2025, 11:00 PM: The venue notified us at the last minute that the screenings for the next two days would be canceled due to force majeure. The three of us—the lead curators—lay on the stage boards we’d painstakingly assembled piece by piece, which hadn’t yet been dismantled, and laughed in despair. Tears were still welling up in our eyes when the venue manager called back to tell us the event could continue—we just needed to cancel the final screening on the 26th. She said the talking points we’d hastily come up with had worked, but I felt it was the curatorial gods descending upon us!
Yongxi: I want to talk about two moments, both of which involve “tears.”
The first moment was after we’d already coordinated the screening time and location with FIRST officials. The school suddenly barred us from using the confirmed venue due to a university-wide event, citing “university priorities.” After multiple failed requests and attempts to find an alternative space, a faculty member told me to prepare for the event’s cancellation. We’d been preparing for a month by then. I broke down in tears, mentally bracing myself while making a wish to the heavens, all the while steadying my nerves and comforting my teammates as I wrote a plea to borrow an available space. Finally, fueled by my tears, we secured a new venue.
The second moment was an unexpected “tearful” one. I had assumed I would cry only after the three-day film festival concluded, having finally completed the task, but I never expected that on the very first day, I would choose to attend the opening of the FIRST festival. Sitting in the audience, I broke down and couldn’t move. Seeing the frames of film—the result of two months of endless debates and meticulous refinement with my partners—unfold before everyone’s eyes, I felt it had all been worth it.
Anxious peri: In the early hours of June 24, 2024, the breeze by the Yangtze River still carried the lingering warmth of the day. We held the closing ceremony on the grassy riverbank, with clips from the films screened over the past few days playing on a loop, while empty beer bottles piled up into a small mountain at our feet. I clutched the microphone; the speech I’d prepared was long since disrupted by alcohol and emotion, and I could only mumble to this group of comrades-in-arms about the bumps and the starlight along the way. I handed each member a gold-embossed certificate. Everyone’s eyes welled up with tears, and I hugged them, my voice choked with emotion: “This journey has truly been so difficult.” Then, fireworks suddenly burst over the river, showering us with a golden rain of light that illuminated all our exhaustion, grievances, and pride with a brilliant glow.
“The destiny of film is to be watched.” And behind the act of watching lie those moments of tears and laughter that cannot be captured by data. They are archived like records, waiting for new custodians.
Applications for the 2026 FIRST Active Screening Program are now open and will close on April 21. Please click “Read More” at the end of this article to visit the FIRST official website, view the film list, and apply online.
In addition to applications for screening venues and curatorial teams, applications for FIRST Proactive Screening Test Officers are now open and will close on April 7. As mobile supervisors ensuring the safety of in-person screenings, Test Officers not only protect the physical medium of film and creators’ rights but also respond to the spirit of cinephilia and the ritual of film viewing—confirming, in the moment the screen lights up and turns toward the audience, that film is still needed.
【“5 Minutes of Life” from Some Curators】
Ice: 5 Minutes of Being Lost
I got lost in the gym for five minutes—it was pitch black with no signal, and I kept pushing open one unknown door after another just to find my way. Those were also five precious minutes during which I received absolutely no messages. Nothing really happened in those five minutes, yet it felt as though something had—it was like the anticipation of opening the door to the world.
Xiao Wu: Starting with 5 Minutes, But Not Just 5 Minutes
When we first discussed the curatorial theme, we embarked on a deep, candid conversation, starting from the parts that touched us most deeply to uncover the themes that could create the strongest connections. By the end, everyone was in tears—those conversations were both private and public. And this very feeling of dialogue is precisely how I understand the meaning of film and the significance of film curation.
Han Yonglin: Flipping Through a 5-Minute Photo Album
Facing this text box, I flipped through a 5-minute photo album. Looking back at the album from two years ago when we were preparing for the “Active Screening,” those two months were the most wonderful days. Five minutes is short, and two years is short too, but long enough to leave campus behind and leave youth behind. Film is about coming together, and we will all come together again. Thank you, FIRST, for bringing back the joy of reunion.
Ziyu: There’s More Than One “5 Minutes” in Life
There are so many such “5-minute” moments in my life—a loved one passing away on the day of my graduation photos, a lover delivering a crushing blow just when I loved him most, my family always standing behind me when I was shrinking back in fear… These 300 seconds have made me a brave person who, though afraid, still moves forward and makes decisions.
Bubble Peter: Fighting Forgetfulness with 5 Minutes
Before our friend moved, we photographed every corner of her home, capturing the occasional murmurs of her grandparents drifting in from off-camera. It reminded me of the corners in my own home that were renovated when I was a child—I never took photos to remember them, and now I can’t recall what they looked like. This time, we all breathed a sigh of relief, grateful that we hadn’t forgotten.
Old Yang: 5 Minutes Gazing at the Sky
While moving, my dad drove a pickup truck with the top down to haul away the sofa we’d used for over a decade. I lay on the sofa, gazing at the sky from a perspective I’d never experienced before. Power lines accompanied me for a stretch, flocks of birds flew by occasionally, and the sunlight grew blinding. During those 5 minutes, the world unfolded in a different way.
When these stories, born between the thumb and forefinger, rise from private screens and scatter across city street corners, campus steps, or rural spaces, a single five-minute clip is enough to ignite a sense of shared resonance in the moment.
This year, FIRST Active Screening, in collaboration with strategic partner vivo, has launched this curated theme for ultra-short films. We invite curators to draw upon the films selected for the FIRST Ultra-Short Film Section to create a site-specific interpretation centered on “5 Minutes of ______.” The aim is to identify curatorial initiatives that maintain a keen insight into the nuances of life and to explore the chemical reactions that arise when moving images collide with specific spaces.
The 2026 FIRST Active Screening program is now officially open, recruiting curators and testers from all passionate film enthusiasts.
Life is 300 seconds—just 5 minutes. You can make your own choices, take the initiative to try new things, and screen films yourself to create more 5-minute moments that bring unique meaning to your life.
The days of the Xiao Xiao Art Cinema may be a decade behind us, but you can experience many more of these wonderful days and nights.
We’re waiting for you.