2015-02-09

Shanghai International Film Festival Promotion Campaign in Berlin

Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) launched its international promotion campaign in Berlin on February 7, 2015. The SIFF reception has prensence by Mr. Kim Dong Ho,the father of Busan Film Festival and well acclaimed Taiwanese director Doze Niu. The artistic director of Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture, Radio, Film & TV, Mr. Teng Junjie, made a welcome speech inviting filmmakers from around the world to visit Shanghai for exchange and cooperation. He also outlined policies to revive Shanghai\'s film and television industry.

The artistic director of Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture, Radio, Film & TV, Mr. Teng Junjie

Ms. Fu Wenxia, executive vice general secretary of SIFF, announced that the 18th Shanghai International Film Festival, scheduled for June 13-21, 2015, will continue to make breakthroughs while carrying the torch for China\'s movie industry.
The Golden Goblet award will have new sections for Best Documentary and Best Animated Film. The award system for Asian New Talents will be fully upgraded. Also SIFF will be the first category A international film festival to hold an Internet film festival, to be called I-SIFF. And the Jackie Chan Action Movie Week will also be introduced in 2015.

Asian New Talents Upgraded
The Chinese film market has become the world\'s most eye-catching and rapidly developing place for movie investment. In 2014, the country’s annual box-office grew by 36% to an impressive 29.6 billion yuan. Thanks to more than a decade of astonishing growth, the Chinese film market is evolving into the world\'s most exceptional, dynamic and valuable, making it indispensible for any film company\'s when deciding a global strategies. Reflecting this strong growth, the 2014 Shanghai International Film Festival attracted 1099 movies to competition and 1808 movies for exhibition.

The executive vice general secretary of SIFF,Fu Wenxia

As evidence of the festival\'s prominence, international stars Nicole Kidman, Natalie Portman, Hugh Grant and other leading players graced the event with their presence. In the nine days of the festival, over 1,000 films from China and elsewhere were screened in 35 cinemas, attracting more than 300,000 viewers. Film buffs around the country queued all night not only to buy tickets for those popular blockbusters,but also for niche art-house titles, a scene simply unimaginable in the past.
Ms. Fu Wenxia explained the awards\' framework will be further improved for the 2015 Shanghai International Film Festival to ensure more professionalism and impartiality. Two categories will be added to the major Golden Goblet Award – Best Documentary and Best Animated Film. Also, the Asian New Talent Award, which aims to nurture talented newcomers in Asia, will be fully upgraded. It will adopt a nomination system for selection and evaluation, and will consist of six categories - Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography. The first three films directed by Asian directors and completed after January 1, 2014 will be eligible for submission.

I-SIFF Debut
While the market is booming in China, it is also evolving, with many Internet companies taking initial steps to join the film industry. After tapping into new media streams and creating the Mobile SIFF, the festival this year will cooperate with Internet companies to launch the first Internet SIFF. This strategy is aimed at building an incubation platform for new Internet film talents and developing quality intellectual property rights. It also is to create a platform for the exploration and development of the Internet film industry and provide a marketing platform to generate more interactive experience among film fans.
In addition, SIFF will inaugurate the Jackie Chan Action Movie Week in collaboration with the international movie star. It is an attempt to recognize people contributing greatly to action filmmaking and to nurture new Chinese talents for the genre to better sustain its spirit. Including a forum and screenings, the Movie Week will consist of eight audience choice awards and present an Iron Man award. Applications for the awards opened last December.

New Film Policies in Shanghai
Since 2014,SIFF was operated directly under the quidance of government department in charge of culture matters. It was the first time since the festival was founded more than 20 years ago. This has improved the film selection system, merged with the international film market, and raised the quality of the competing and screening films. It has also fostered a closer relationship with the Shanghai film industry.
Mr. Teng Junjie, artistic director of Shanghai Administration of Culture, Radio, Film and Television, took part in the events in Berlin on behalf of the Shanghai government office in charge of movies. He said Shanghai, as the international financial centre as well as the birth place of Chinese cinema, will reform and deepen international movie exchanges as the Chinese film industry is maturing and the market is booming.
“Shanghai has unveiled several incentives to promote film development in 2014," Mr. Teng said. "It has set up the Shanghai Film Industry Development Special Fund with 200 million yuan each year to support fine movie production, and the oversea distribution of chinese films and etc.
"It has also introduced land, taxation and finance policies favorable to the growth of the Shanghai movie industry in an effort to foster the city as a griendly destination for Chinese and foreign co-productions," he added.
"I hope that today\'s events and the future platforms to be built by SIFF will promote exchanges between film workers from Shanghai from China as well as from the world for a win-win result and new achievements.”