Film Carnival of the People
The two festivals promise a carnival for movie enthusiasts. This year, as football fans stay up late for the World Cup, movies fans are fascinated by excellent movies. In Hu Jinjun’s opinion, SIFF should be firstly "the people\'s movie carnival" so that citizens can watch the movies they like, not only commercial and popular ones, but also art films and those appealing to niche audiences.
This year\'s Shanghai International Film Festival will harvest a record-breaking box office which is highly related to the quality of the films. Many films shortlisted and awarded at the Berlin and Cannes Film Festivals will be screened. Many box office hits and vintage films with sound reputation will also be played to satisfy the fans.
The Organizing Committee also has hired a third-party consulting company to do research in the theatres, at the Forums, as well as with the judges in a bid to discover gaps and shortcomings to improve the film festival for the future.
In addition to “holding a film festival that is popular", the other key concept of Shanghai International Film Festival is "to gather resources necessary for the development of the industry.” This year, the markets of the two events will be integrated and built into an "International Film Market" in compliance with the law of the industry and attracting legal protection, financial support, multi-tiered talents and filmmaking crews.
"This year\'s Taiwan Pavilion, Anime Pavilion, South Korea Pavilion, and TVBS Pavilion have all been very successful," Hu Jinjun said. The head of the Taiwan Pavilion even complained to him the stadium was not big enough. With more than 30 Taiwan exhibitors participating, they ended up with one booth being shared by one TV station and two production companies.
While the "International Film Market" has gained in popularity and reputation, Hu Jinjun believes this is far from being enough. "Next year we want to make the international film market a series of theme pavilions to enable higher market quality. We will ensure the successful establishment of a State-owned Enterprises Pavilion, Chinese SME Pavilion, Shanghai SME Pavilion, pavilions for the provinces and municipalities as well as national pavilions for major filmmaking countries in Asia.” This year, the top five South Korean filmmaking companies gathered to release dozens of films that the two countries jointly produced.
Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism
