Breath of fresh air

Qian Haiying, founder of the Banff China film festival that promotes outdoor and nature documentaries, is herself a fan of outdoor sports－diving, running and skiing.

"The environmental problems are not far away from us. Instead, they are so close to our modern life that we barely notice them," Qian says.

Meanwhile, a training program to encourage more talent to go into outdoor sports documentary shooting will be launched at this year's film festival.

"We have done a survey that shows our main audience is between 25 to 45 years old. Passionate and energetic, college students are the main force of the targeted group. And we hope the training program will let more young people know about us," Qian says.

Before entering the universities, many college students are under huge academic pressure, which leaves them little time to think about their lives. "But everything changes after living in an ivory tower, and they gradually get to know society. Faced with many choices, they can decide themselves who they really want to be," she says.

"Developing the hobby of outdoor sports is a pretty good choice. They can make new friends, develop a healthy lifestyle and get closer to nature."

The training program will start at Beijing's Peking University and be promoted at other universities in the future.