China National Film Museum

China National Film Museum

中国电影博物馆

Address:No. 9, Nanying Road, Chaoyang district, Beijing

Hours:9:00 am -5:00 pm from Tuesday to Friday (No entry after 4:30 pm)

9:00 am-8:30 pm on weekends (No entry after 20:00)
Closed Mondays
General admission: Free
Tel:(+86-10)84355959

Want to watch the earliest animations of Chinese meticulous painting? Wondering how to make films? Curious about lighting methods and how to shoot movies underwater? Just come and explore the China National Film Museum!

Founded in 2005 in celebration of 100 years of Chinese cinema, the China National Film Museum is designed to showcase the history of Chinese cinema, host film technology expos, and conduct academic exchanges and research in order to advance cinema culture both in China and worldwide. Up until now, it is the world's largest professional national museum.

CNFM has 21 permanent exhibition halls and some temporary spaces and multifunctional halls for exhibition and meetings. In addition, it has one IMAX theatre, one digital projection theater, and three 35mm projection theatres.

CNFM was the result of a joint effort by RTKL International Inc., headquartered in the United States, and the Beijing Construction Design Institution. The design reflects the concept of reaching harmony between the film arts and architectural innovation. The building is known not only for the design’s visual power but also for its ability to provide the audience with a complete intimate experience of contemporary cinema culture.

CNFM accommodates 40,000 collection items, including eight national level collection pieces. It collects Zheng Zhengqiu’s studyroom, a 35mm hand-cranked silent film projector made in Germany, the metal plate of a photo taken by Ren Qingtai when he was 70 years old and the photo developed with this plate and the design of the film “Lin Zexu” as composed by Han Shangyi.

The Film Art Exhibition Hall contains the preface hall and No. 1 to No. 10 exhibition halls. It is located on the second and third floors of CNFM. It mainly displays the century-old history of Chinese film and the artistic achievements of film artists.

The exhibition area consists of "The Invention of Film", "The Birth and Early Development of Chinese Films", "Chinese Films During the Revolutionary War", "The Creation and Development of New Chinese Films", "Chinese Films in the New Era of Reform and Opening Up", and "Art Films", "Children's Movies", "Science Educational Movies", "Translated Movies", "Documentary Movies", "Hong Kong and Macau Films" and "Taiwan Films".

The film technology expo area contains ten exhibition halls on the fourth floor of CNFM.

It is composed of "film shooting", "film art", "film special photography", "traditional film special effects", "digital special effects", and "film recording", "film editing", "film processing", "film animation", and "movies of various varieties".

The main content of the exhibition showcases film production technology and film knowledge, and reveals the mysteries of film production. Audience participation and interactivity are the outstanding features of the Expo Area. There are 77 interactive projects that provide visitors with a rich film culture experience. They can make their own recordings, shoot short films, and experience the fun of film making. The entire film production process from shooting, editing, art, dubbing and scoring to special effects and printing is fully demonstrated.