Story

The Speech is a coming of age story about discovering one’s self via the gaze of others. Set in 2003 Beijing, right before the SARS outbreak, we follow Zhenzhen, a third-grade student who’s been chosen to give a speech in front of her whole school finds herself lost in the arbitrary rules and expectations from her parents, teachers and friends.

Team

haohao
xiaoxiao
anton
luqi
kiki

AFI Conservatory

At the world-renowned AFI Conservatory, a dedicated group of working professionals from the film and television communities serve as mentors in a hands-on, production-based environment nurturing the talents of tomorrow's storytellers. The Conservatory is consistently recognized as one of the world’s top film schools.

With an emphasis on narrative visual storytelling and personal expression, each class breaks into teams that mirror a real production environment. Those teams collaborate on and produce more films than any other graduate level film program.

Established in 1969, the two-year Master of Fine Arts program provides training in six filmmaking disciplines: Cinematography, Directing, Editing, Producing, Production Design and Screenwriting. Admission to AFI Conservatory is highly selective, with a maximum of only 140 graduates per year.

AFI alumni continually celebrate critical recognition, including wins at:

  • • Academy Awards (Wally Pfister, INCEPTION, cinematography class of 1988),
  • • Emmy Awards (Dante Di Loreto, TEMPLE GRANDIN, producing class of 1991),
  • • Tony Awards (Anne Garefino, "The Book of Mormon," producing class of 1988)
  • • The Grand Prizes at the Cannes Film Festival (Terrence Malick, TREE OF LIFE, directing class of 1969)
  • • Sundance Film Festival (Drake Doremus, LIKE CRAZY, directing class of 2005).

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