The 17th Beijing College Students Film Festival handed out the awards in the short film category of this year's competition over the weekend. A total of 38 awards went to some of China's most promising student filmmakers.

Taking the Grand Jury Award is the work titled "Constellation of Whales," a story created in the style of magic realism. It shows the encounters of a girl that has fins growing on her back. The theme of the film is the necessity of tolerance. The Best Feature honors went to "Mountain of River Dragon," a tale set in an ethnic community of Northeast China. And "Red Nanjing City," the first work by a student from Nanjing Arts Academy, won the award for best director. All the winners pointed out how they had gained valuable experience through the cooperative process of creating a short film.

Shen Ao said, "It's different from professional filmmaking. All the production crew are my buddies. We worked together to create this short film. And I myself did the jobs of director and producer. It was a very valuable experience for me."

The short film competition is the only section dedicated to student-produced works at the Beijing College Students Film Festival. Now in its 11th year, more than four hundred entries from across China were entered into the competition. Judging falls into four categories... digital video, mobile phone, public interest, and animation. The aim is to provide a platform for college film enthusiasts to display their video works.

The competition has received support from the country's top filmmakers and actors who expressed admiration for the contestants' creativity and imagination.