Jin Tao, chief judge of Xiamen’s International Youth Short Film Festival, gives a lecture in a short film forum on Jan 18 in Xiamen, Fujian province. [Photo / xmnn.cn]

A short film forum, as a part of the first Xiamen International Youth Short Film Festival, was held in Xiamen, Fujian province on Jan 18, to discuss the hot topics and trends in the short films sector.

It attracted more than 200 participants, including Jin Tao, chief judge of the festival, Qu Youning, a Taiwan director, Zhang Guanglie, a national first-level script writer, and Liu Jin, a national first-level actor.

A short film forum is held on Jan 18 in Xiamen, Fujian province. [Photo / xmnn.cn]

Compared with Desire, a hot TV series in 1990 which set a record high of 60 percent in audience ratings, today’s TV series are happy if they reach 1 percent.

The television audience has declined in the internet age, while short films are a good way to go for the film and TV series industry, according to Jin Tao.

The scripts for a short film are more different from that of films, because it needs more expertise and skill to write a short but brilliant story. A successful short film can load much into its short length, according to Zhang Guanglie.

Qu Youning took a selfie at the start of his lecture. He said, “You are a director when you hold your cell phone.” He said that short films have a bright market future and can provide many creation opportunities for the young.

Some students in the School of Journalism and Communication at Xiamen University have held two short film festivals in cooperation with Taiwanese organizations. Their president said that the festival had mass support and the industry would have a promising future.