Shanghai International Film Festival opens with a mission
- By Zhang Rui
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E-mail China.org.cn, June 17, 2018
The 21st Shanghai International Film Festival kicked off at the Shanghai Grand Theatre last night with star-studded red carpet signaling its ambition to be the top film fest in the world.
In an action plan released by the Shanghai government in April, it clearly stated the local government would help promote the film festival to be one of the top three film festivals in the world within three years, which means it will have to be up to the standard of, or surpass, Cannes, Berlin and the Venice film festivals.
With the festival’s growing influence, its competition section attracted filmmakers from around the world. According to the organizing committee, a total of 3,447 films from 108 countries and regions were submitted to the festival, among which, 13 films were eventually shortlisted for the finals of the Golden Goblet Awards.
"When we enter a new era, the film festival should seize the opportunity to restart itself and became one of the best internationally, working hard to make itself a world-class film culture fest," Shanghai mayor Ying Yong said at the opening ceremony of the festival.
Jiang Wen, a predominant Chinese filmmaker and actor, will chair the 7-member jury this year, which includes Chinese actor Chang Chen, Japanese filmmaker Naomi Kawase and American producer David Permut. Two Chinese films, "Ala Changso" by Sonthar Gyal and "Lost, Found" by Lyu Yue, are in the race with other international productions including Florian Gallenberger's "As Green As It Gets"(Germany), Isshin Inudou's "The Cat in Their Arms"(Japan), Ramtin Lavafipour's "Hattrick" (Iran) and Ole Bornedal's "The Way to Mandalay"(Denmark). The awards will be unveiled and handed out at the award ceremony to be held on June 24 in Shanghai.
"In 1995, when I first came here, the festival was not as international as what it is today," Jiang said, who has attended the festival five times as director or as actor before being the jury chairman this time, "Today, since we have so many real professional and international fellow jurors, we will try to do our job well."
Jiang will also have his classic films specially screened at the festival, including "In the Heat of the Sun," "The Sun Also Rises" and "Let the Bullets Fly," all of which had been sold out. His new film "Hidden Man" will hit Chinese screens in July. For that, he walked twice yesterday on the red carpet, one time as jury chair and again as director and actor for his new film with his cast.
Movie fans were star struck by yesterday's red carpet with film stars and filmmakers such as Carina Lau, Li Bingbing, Li Yifeng, Xu Zheng, Tsui Hark, Ning Hao, Yao Chen, Nicolas Cage and Jason Statham appearing in person. But at the opening ceremony, the organizing committee also paid tributes to those who worked behind-the-scenes: Hu Yu'e, a 4K resolution restoration master of old films, Zhang Guohui, a film subtitle translator, and Li Shude, a film poster illustrator invited on stage to receive applause.
Director Han Yan's new film "Animal World," starring Li Yifeng, Michael Douglas and Zhou Dongyu, served as the opening film of the festival and received rave reviews yesterday. Zhou said at the opening ceremony that she is really grateful to an era that gives them so much space and so many opportunities. "We will spare no efforts to be the new power and mainstay for the Chinese films," she said.
During the festival, more than 500 films of various genres will be exhibited in 45 appointed theaters in Shanghai, including Hirokazu Kore-eda's latest Palme d'Or-winning "Shoplifters," James Cameron's sci-fi blockbuster "Avatar" and 4K high-definition restored version of "2001: A Space Odyssey" by Stanley Kubrick. The festival's first jury chair, the late director Xie Jin, will also be remembered with some of his most famous films to be screened here. Most of film festival screenings have been sold out.
To allow fans to get closer to the the festival, more than 100 meet-and-greet events will be held after screenings where filmmakers will appear in person to have exchanges with the audience.
Furthermore, 10 major film forums will invite top filmmakers, actors and industry professionals to discuss and share their experience and insights on various subjects regarding the film industry and filmmaking.
The 21st Shanghai International Film Festival will be held from June 16 through June 25 in Shanghai.
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