Serious fun

Winners of this year's Vision Youth Awards include My Grandparents, a documentary about a couple's 50-year-long married life. Photos provided to China Daily

This year's Vision Youth Awards honor short films and documentaries on important topics made by Chinese students. Xu Fan reports.

A man who is in his 50s and has cancer uses the last three months of his life to prepare his wife for his approaching death.

This is the gist of a 29-minute film, titled Before We Part, which is based on the real-life story of Han Jiawen's grandparents. Han is about to complete his degree in direction from Shanghai Theater Academy.

Earlier this month, the film won the best picture prize of the Vision Youth Awards 2017. The annual event is jointly held by China Association of Higher Education and the Communication University of China, encouraging college students to share their views of life and the world through cinema.

Eight other movies and documentaries also won at the event this year.

Since it was launched in 2003, the event has risen from being a campus activity to a platform for cultural exchanges, says Hu Fang, the head organizer and professor at the university.