Hundreds of celebrities gather for film festival opening, Jiang Wen and Kidman awarded

This year\'s jury panel for the Golden Goblet award is headed by mainland actress Gong Li.PIC  by CFP

The 17th Shanghai International Film Festival opened last night at the Shanghai Grand Theater with a star-studded red carpet and a grand opening ceremony.

Around 400 film celebrities from home and abroad walked down the red carpet outside the theater.

Among them were Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman, British actor Hugh Grant, French director Jean-Jacques Annaud, South Korean actress Song Hye-kyo and Hong Kong actor Nicolas Tse.

Grant brings his new romantic movie The Rewrite to the festival. He told local fans that he had just arrived and the city is very beautiful. He also said "I Love Shanghai" in Shanghai dialect.

American actor John Cusack walked the red carpet with the crew of Dragon Blade. Cusack plays a prince and cooperates with kung fu star Jackie Chan in this Chinese war epic movie. It is also the first time he has starred in a Chinese language film.
During the opening ceremony, Nicole Kidman, clad in a shining fishtail dress, received the Outstanding Contribution Award for her courage to try out many challenging roles.

"I love taking risks," said Kidman. "As an actor, my career is always about pushing myself and pushing the boundaries."
Kidman added she actually had a strong connection with China. Her Chinese friend used to tell her a lot of things about the country such as Chinese astrology.

"I also like Chinese women; maybe one day I could play a Chinese woman." she said.

The award for Outstanding Contribution to Chinese Cinema went to mainland filmmaker Jiang Wen, who has made great efforts to innovate in his movies.

Jiang said he had an affinity with Shanghai as some of his movies were shot in the city and were about people living in this city.

This year\'s jury panel for the Golden Goblet award is headed by mainland actress Gong Li, who is also the festival\'s first female jury president.

Gong expressed her gratitude for being given the privilege to be jury president. She also suggested that film audiences look at a film not just with their eyes, but also with their hearts. This year\'s 15 Golden Goblet Award finalists cover a variety of genres.
 The festival will run through to June 22 and features a diversified range of events such as film panorama, master class, forum and market.

The restored high-definition version of Stage Sisters, a classic Chinese movie directed by Xie Jin 50 years ago was the festival\'s opening film.