On a warm winter night in Sanya, the sea breeze, the sound of the tides, and the flickering light of the screen intertwine into a unique rhythm. As an important program of the 3rd Hainan Island International Film Festival (HIIFF), the HIIFF Open-Air Screenings have brought multiple immersive outdoor viewing experiences to Sanya residents and tourists over several consecutive days. Films light up by the sea, in the mountains, and in the city center.
Continuing the brand IP "HIIFF Open-Air Screenings", which garnered widespread attention upon its debut last year, this year's HIIFF Open-Air Screenings enters public living spaces with a more open attitude, placing films back into natural landscapes and allowing audiences to embark on a viewing journey closer to the essence of cinema amidst real wind, real light, and real tides.
Multi-point screenings turn all of Sanya into a natural screening room
This year's HIIFF Open-Air Screenings has set up screening points at Tianya Town in Maling Community, Luhuitou Scenic Area, and Summer Station Shopping Center for citizens, film fans, and tourists. Representing holiday travel, mountain and sea landscapes, and leisure living spaces, they collectively constitute Sanya's most typical spatial attributes. They also reflect the diverse structure of the outdoor scenes at this year's HIIFF Open-Air Screenings, allowing the viewing experience to continuously transform in motion.
At Tianya Town in Maling Community, residents and tourists sit around, children chase each other by the screen, and the community's lights reflect off the screen's glow, presenting a warmth close to daily life. As the sky above the coastline slowly transitions from sunset glow to deep blue, the screen lights up, and the audience enters the world of cinema together.
Tianya Town, Maling Community
The screening at Luhuitou Scenic Area unfolds between the mountains and the sea. Looking up, one can see clouds slowly drifting across the night sky; in the distance, the sea reflects the skylight. When the screen lights up against the mountain backdrop, nature becomes the vastest background. Leaning back in lounge chairs, facing the sea breeze and city lights, the audience immerses itself in the immense enveloping sensation created jointly by the film and nature.
Luhuitou Scenic Area
The venue at Summer Station Shopping Center presents a more urban and vibrant side. Illuminated by modern architecture and lighting, young crowds gather here at night, creating a market atmosphere with a stronger sense of festivity.
Summer Station Shopping Center
Gathering excellent films, letting the festival meet daily life
This year's HIIFF Open-Air Screenings features a curated selection of high-quality domestic and international films, including both widely acclaimed works and light-hearted films suitable for an outdoor atmosphere. Films such as Hi, Mom, Small Monsters of Langlang Mountain, That Summer in Paris, and Good Stuff have appeared on the outdoor screen.
The open-air screenings have not only attracted numerous citizens but also drawn many film fans and tourists who made special trips for the experience. The stories on the screen, along with the live sound of waves, the flow of the wind, tourists' laughter, and children's playful shouts, collectively become part of the viewing experience, forming a beautiful landscape in Sanya's winter nightlife. Some sit on the beach, some lie on chairs, and some, just passing by, are drawn by the screen to stop and become part of the scenery.
Multiple experiences, breaking the boundary between online and offline
This year's HIIFF Open-Air Screenings aims to bridge online social experiences with offline physical viewing, forging a closer bond between audiences and films, as well as among audiences themselves, in a new context. Teaming up with our partners Weibo and Bilibili, we present two special screening sessions at the HIIFF Open-Air Screenings, reaching the world of cinema alongside hundreds of attending viewers.
The "bilibili Easter Egg Special Screening", co-hosted by HIIFF Open-Air Screenings and Bilibili, was held on December 5. We screened Small Monsters of Langlang Mountain at the HIIFF Open-Air Screenings venue in Sanya's Tianya Town, and invited three Bilibili creators—Xiaopianpian Shuo Dapian, Miying Zhixia Filmlast, and Xuanmiao Elias—as "class representatives". Together with Waji, the character design and original animation designer of Small Monsters of Langlang Mountain, they held a seaside roundtable discussion, sharing behind-the-scenes stories of character design, animation film production, and in-depth interpretations of secondary creations.
bilibili Easter Egg Special Screening
At the "Weibo Film Special Screening", co-hosted by HIIFF Open-Air Screenings and Weibo Film, we invited Weibo users to a screening appointment at the Ends of the Earth. Through a voting campaign launched on Weibo in advance, users were able to decide the film to be screened themselves. After 72 hours of wishing, The Determination to Leave topped the list with 1,017 votes. On the evening of December 6, Weibo users gathered at Tianya Town, searching together for that "determination to leave" amidst the sea breeze at the Ends of the Earth.
Weibo Film Special Screening
As the final screening slowly came to a close in the sea breeze, the HIIFF Open-Air Screenings of the 3rd HIIFF also concluded successfully. When films meet more open spaces and more diverse crowds, the wonderful atmosphere of the festival spreads further and lasts longer. The light and shadow never end; we look forward to seeing you again next year.
Although the 3rd Hainan Island International Film Festival has concluded, film screenings continue. Please click below to enter the mini-program to purchase tickets. Coconut breeze and sea charm, light and shadow always accompany you.
