From time to time, some interesting casting calls get passed through the beijingkids editorial desk, giving children great real-world work experience in film or television. While most of these tend to be modeling gigs, this particular one is likely the strangest we’ve seen in a while!

Some graduating students from the Beijing Film Academy are seeking lead roles for their final film project. The short, titled The Blind Zone, will be a 20-minute long psychological thriller, and the prequel to what they hope will turn into an eight-episode first season. Not to be confused with the 2009 feel-good movie The Blind Side, starring Sandra Bullock, this gig will likely be something far more sinister.

The one catch for this role is that your middle schooler (between the ages of 13-18) needs to be a girl, and look beautiful, rich, and evil. If your daughter meets these criteria, along with being Asian and bilingual, then you are in the running. It’s also one of the lead roles in the project, so we are also assuming that some experience in front of the camera or on stage is preferred. But who knows, maybe just the presence of pure evil will be the only prerequisite needed to land this leading role.

If interested, or you know of someone wicked enough to play the part, you can send a CV, photos, and samples of previous work experience to the email address in the poster (tbzcasting@hotmail.com), or scan the QR code.

Photo: tasteofcinema.com

It could be said that one sign of a prosperous society is the number of artists it’s able to produce. Think about ancient Greece, Florence in the early years of the 15th century, New York in the 20th century, etc. People have more time to be creative if money is flooding in. Beijing is no exception. It was reported by China Daily last week that a record amount of high school graduates have applied for positions in the top two performing art schools in China.

This year, more than 45,000 students will be taking the Beijing Film Academy entrance exam. 10,000 aspiring thespians will compete to gain admission in a department that will only except 50 applicants.
In addition to becoming an actor or actress, many students are also applying for the school’s directing, scriptwriting, production, and editing departments, of which the admission rates are just below .5 percent.

The Beijing Film Academy is one of the most prestigious acting schools in the country and has produced some of the most famous stars and directors in China, including Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Jiang Wu, and Huang Bo. Another school that is currently seeing a surge in applicants is the Shanghai Theater Academy, where over 6,000 will compete for the 50 places in the acting department.

China Daily mentions that this surge of interest in media and performing arts corresponds to the rapid rise of film and online video in China. Box office revenue surged 13.4 percent in 2017 to RMB 56 billion, with domestic films contributing 53.8 percent, according to the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT). In the first half of last year a staggering 5,000 internet film, series, cartoon, and documentaries were registered with SAPPRFT.

Photo: china.org.cn