Shanghai festival turning global, says Jiang
SHANGHAI: The Shanghai International Film Festival is truly turning global in nature, according to director and jury chairman Jiang Wen.
Noted Jiang, famed for his iconic films like Let the Bullet Fly: “In 1995, when I first came here, the festival was not as international as what it is today. Today, since we have so many real professional and international fellow jurors, we will try to do our job well.”
Apart from Bullets, films with Jiang’s touch to be screened at the festival are In the Heat of the Sun, and The Sun Also Rises. Tickets for these movies have all
In 1995, when I first came here, the festival was not as international as what it is today. Today, since we have so many real professional and international fellow jurors, we will try to do our job well.
been sold out.
His new film Hidden Man will hit cinemas in China next month.
The jury that he leads this year includes 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 local government in Shanghai is helping to promote the festival and aims to help it place among the top three in the world within three years.
To achieve that, it shall have to be on par or even surpass the standard set by festivals that are hosted annually at Cannes, Berlin and Venice.
According to the organising committee, a total of 3,447 films from 108 countries and regions were submitted for this year’s Shanghai festival. Thirteen are to be 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 during the opening ceremony.
Movie fans were star struck over the weekend by the arrival of stars like Carina Lau, Li Bingbing, Li Yifeng, Xu Zheng, Tsui Hark, Ning Hao, Yao Chen, Nicolas Cage and Jason Statham .
Director Han Yan’s new film Animal World, starring Li Yifeng, Michael Douglas and Zhou Dongyu, was the opening film.
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 cinemas 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 awards will be unveiled and handed out during the awards ceremony on June 24.
Jiang Wen, director and jury chairman