Film festival’s Golden Goblet jury members share insights with media

By Joyce Xu

Jury members for the Golden Goblet Awards of the 26th Shanghai International Film Festival shared their insights about cinema at a press conference on Friday (June 14), the opening day of the annual film fest.

The seven-member jury panel of the Main Competition of the awards is chaired by celebrated French filmmaker Tran Anh Hung, whose credits include "The Taste of Things,” “Cyclo,” and “The Scent of Green Papaya.”

The jury also includes Australian director Rolf de Heer, German director Matthias Glasner, Hong Kong actor Leung Ka-fai, Argentine director Santiago Mitre, Chinese  mainland director Sonthar Gyal, and Chinese mainland actress Zhou Xun.

Fifty film productions from home and abroad will compete this year for the Golden Goblet Awards in five categories — Main Competition, Asian New Talent, Animation Film, Documentary Film, and Short Film.

Fourteen films are nominated for the Main Competition category.

In 2011, director Tran served as a judge of the 14th Shanghai International Film Festival. Main Competition jury president this year, Tran said it was a big pleasure for him to discuss movies with other jury members.

“Cinema is a language,” said Tran. “I’m speaking the language in a certain way.”

Tran also shared his desire to cooperate with Chinese actors and do a film project in China.

His aspiration was immediately echoed by Leung and Zhou.

Leung joked that he and Zhou were not the best, but nearly the best, Chinese actors. He believed that foreign filmmakers will surely conceive brand new stories about China after their visits to the film festival.

“They can think about us in their new movies,” Leung said. 

Leung also dubbed himself an old Shanghai native who had witnessed the rapid development of the city, also renown as the cradle of the Chinese film industry.

“I feel very honored to be a judge for the festival as it is a good opportunity to exchange (views) with filmmakers and audiences,” he said.

Actress Zhou said that she is very willing to recommend delicious foods in the city to foreign colleagues on the panel. She is also looking forward to the shock and surprise that the nominated movies could offer.

Director Glasner, on his second visit to Shanghai, hoped to get to know the city better. Both he and director Mitre considered the festival a good chance to watch high-quality movies from other countries and talk with fellow professionals in the film industry.