SIFF’s film development venture capital project swamped with applications

By Viola Ke

The Shanghai International Film Festival's venture capital project has received an impressive 380 valid project applications this year.

Among them, 330 were script submissions for youth director projects, works-in-progress, and international collaborations.

Notably, the international collaboration submissions featured entries from Germany, Iceland, and Italy, alongside the usual participants from the United States, Japan, and France.

From this substantial pool, 34 projects were selected for further development, namely eight youth director projects, three international collaborations, 13 creative, and 10 production projects.

The chosen projects generated significant industry buzz, with many appointments fully booked even before the festival began.

So far, a total of 661 negotiation sessions have been completed.

At Wednesday's awarding ceremony, the film "A Girl Unknown," which tells the story of a girl’s three stages of growth between six and 18 years and bearing three names in three different families, won the Best Talent Project Award.

"Ain't Them Bodies Saints," a film about the dilemma of modernity from the perspective of a middle-aged couple, won the Most Creative Project.

Suspense film "Stranger in the Mountain" won the Annual Focus Award, while "Cold Water," a film imbued with magical realism, won the Juries' Choice award.

The venture capital initiative was supported by partners including FunAge, Alibaba Pictures, Dirty Monkeys, Phenom Films, Mofei Pictures, Image Forestt, Aputure and INBETWEEN.

They provide special support for the film projects, offering substantial bonuses, equipment, post-production services, and poster designs to support and encourage their ongoing development and creation.

Simultaneously, an annual training camp, launched in 2017 and upgraded in 2019, now runs twice a year in summer and winter.

Each year, 20 emerging filmmakers are selected for a comprehensive program that connects the camp with the venture capital platform, creating a progressive system for nurturing talent and incubating projects.

This year’s venture capital training camp attracted 331 applicants, maintaining the diverse backgrounds seen in previous years.

Applicants came from fields such as literature, animation, design, and law, with some even from the science and business disciplines.

After rigorous initial and secondary evaluations, 20 students were selected to participate in this transformative program.