Festival Offers a Feast of Top Movies, Awards and Hollywood Stars

The 14th SIFF promises to serve up a real feast in city cinemas for movie buffs. On show will be more than 200 Chinese and foreign films in 24 cinemas around town. The festival runs from June 11 to 19.

Movies of various genres will cater to the taste of different audiences, from Oscar-winning blockbusters, classics and acclaimed documentaries to low-budget, art-house movies. Many of them are the latest offerings by well-known producers and directors.

This year\'s festival will feature a retrospective of films by celebrated Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski and highlight the movies of Danish director Bille August and Chinese film maker Zheng Junli.

Pina celebrated German producer-director Wim Wenders\' 3D documentary on the late German dancer and choreographer Pina Bausch, seems an ideal choice for both movie and dance buffs.

Danny Boyle\'s 2010 biographical film 127 Hours, the Coen Brothers\' True Grit and the Danish drama In a Better World which won the 2011 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, are also on offer.
For the first time, local movie buffs will be able to see the complete version of Metropolis Fritz Lang\'s 1927 sci-fi epic which has been fully restored with 25 minutes of lost footage and the original Gottfried Huppertz score. The film, set in a stunningly designed futuristic city, remains a creative inspiration that influenced both the genre and general movie making for many decades.

China\'s cinema earnings grew 63.9 percent last year to a total of 10.1 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion). It has become the world\'s third largest film market in terms of box office revenue after Japan and the United States.

The Golden Goblet Awards will be another festival highlight. This year it has drawn 1,519 entries from 102 countries and regions to compete in various categories, festival official Tang Lijun reported. A short-list of 16 films have been chosen for the awards, including Turkish director Orhan Oguz\'s Hayde Bre, German film maker Andi Rogenhagen\'s Alive and Ticking, Japanese director Fumihiko Sori\'s Tomorrow\'s Joe, Russian director Yevgeni Serov\'s Hydraulics and three Chinese productions - Mr. Tree by Han Jie, Rest On Your Shoulder by Jacob Zhang and Zhang Ming\'s The Young Man Sings Folk Songs In the Opposite Door.

The seven-member jury panel will be chaired by Barry Levinson, Oscar-winning director of Rain Man. Members include British film maker and scriptwriter Christopher Hampton, Japanese director Yoichi Sai, Vietnamese-French director Tran Anh Hung, Spanish actress Paz Vega, Chinese film director Wang Quan\'an and Chinese actress Zhang Jingchu.

Nine films are competing for the Asian New Talent Award, an important commitment by the film festival to support promising young directors. The films include Japanese production Kaasan Mom\'s Life, Philippine picture Rosario, Iranian film The Day Goes and the Night Comes and China\'s Return Ticket, etc.

This year\'s film forum will feature workshops, industry summits and master classes discussing trends in co-production, the digital cinema revolution, new-media channels for film distribution and the power of female producers.

At the forum, media mogul Rupert Murdoch will share his ideas and rich experiences in film investment with Chinese film makers and address financing challenges posed by the industry\'s growth.