Wen Guiyu thinks back to three years ago, when she and her mother came here from her small hometown in Hebei Province, after a 12-hour train ride. Arriving at their destination on Xi Tu Cheng Road, Ms. Wen recalls seeing masses of people – “10,000 of them.” Like her, the crowd was there for one reason: they were all trying to get into Beijing Film Academy, the most prestigious film school in China and the largest film school in Asia. With over 3,300 students, including about 150 international exchange students from countries as distant as the United States, it offers graduate and undergraduate degrees – and for the lucky few, a portal to one of the world’s most vibrant film cultures.