The opening party of the NEU Future Festival at the Ullens Center of Contemporary Art in Beijing, Aug 25, 2017. [Photo by Ma Song/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

In a two-day extravaganza last weekend, the NEU Future Festival convened more than 30 speakers from both China and abroad to exchange ideas on topics ranging from art and music to film-making, science and technology – to explore the opportunities and challenges of our near and far future.

The event kicked off with an opening party on Friday night, featuring art performances from Berlin-based artist Marco Donnarumma, electronic music icon SHAO and his visual art partner Wang Meng, and GOOOOOSE, a pop legend in the Shanghai music scene.

The future of storytelling: Science fiction is reality

Compared to movies in the past, today's theaters offer more diversified experiences to their audiences, especially with the spread of IMAX, 3D technologies and the frequent use of computer-generated imageries (CGI).

With technology changing unprecedentedly fast in today's world, where will future's filmmaking lead us to?