Jury for 20th SIFF Asian New Talent Award Announced

 
  After announcing that the famous Chinese film director Wang Xiaoshuai was appointed as the President of Jury for the 20th Shanghai International Film Festival Asian New Talent Award, the organizing committee made public the whole list of Jury today. On the list, people would be excited to find names such as Joseph Chang (actor from Taiwan, China), Dong Jinsong (cinematographer), Tan Chui Mui (female film director from Malaysia), and Michael J. Weiner (producer from the U.S.)

  The Asian New Talent Award has been set up to support new talents and films in Asia, and has been developing fast ever since. In 2015, the award was fully upgraded and presented awards in different categories. Many new Asian faces in the film industry have been offered opportunities to have their names heard and to grow even faster in their own career paths. They started from Asia and walk far to the world. As of today, the online application for the award have come to an end, and the list of nominees will be released in May. On June 22, The Asian New Talent Award Gala Night will be held for nominees, and on June 23rd, a grand ceremony of the Asian New Talent Award will be held in Hai Shang Culture Center.

Introduction of Jury of the 2017 Asian New Talent Award

President : Wang Xiaoshuai (Director, China)

  As a representative director of the “Sixth Generation” of the Cinema of China, Wang Xiaoshuai has been recognized by three most prestigious film festivals in Europe. In 2005, his film Shanghai Dreams won the Cannes’s Prix du Jury award; in 2008, Chongqing Blues was selected for the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival for the Golden Palm; in 2014, Red Amnesia was selected for the main competition at the Venice Film Festival and was highly praised. When talking about being the president of the jury this time for the New Talent Award, he said he was “very much looking forward to it”. He also stated that “the jury will do the job in a just, fair and professional way.”

Jury member: Tan Chui Mui (Malaysia, Director)

  Tan Chui Mui is a Malaysian filmmaker, and she is also a descendant of a Chinese family originally from Fujian Province, China. In 2006, she received the Tiger Award from the 36th International Film Festival Rotterdam and won the New Currents Award and Fipresci Award at the 11th Pusan International Film Festival for her debut feature film Love Conquers All. This film was screened in over 100 film festivals across the world. She is also a productive director of short films. In recent years, she has put a lot of efforts in finding and supporting new filmmakers in Malaysia.

Jury member: Dong Jinsong (China, cinematographer)

  Jinsong Dong is a famous Chinese cinematographer. His work Black Coal, Thin Ice won the Golden Bear Award at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival, and for this movie, he himself won the Best Cinematography Award at the 8th Asia Pacific Screen Awards and was also nominated for the Best Cinematography Award at the 51th Golden Horse Awards. Other well-known works of his include 11 Flowers directed by Wang Xiaoshuai, People Mountain People Sea which won the Silver Lion Award at the 68th Venice Film Festival and Night Train that was selected into the Un Certain Regard section at 60th Cannes Film Festival.

Jury member: Michael J. Werner (the United States, distributor and producer)

  Michael has been in the film business for over 35 years, with specialty in filmmaking, distributing and consulting in Asia Pacific. In 2006, he became a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He has received a number of international awards in film industry and has been invited by many film festivals in Asia as a member of film selecting committee. He has participated in the distributing of many well received Asian movies, including The Grandmaster, Mountain Cry, Touch of the Light, Ashes of Time, Seediq Bale, Norwegian Woods and Tokyo Sonata. He knows well about Asian movies and markets.

Jury member: Joseph Chang (Taiwan, China, actor)

  Born in 1983, Joseph Chang is a talented new-generation actor from Taiwan, China. Most of his films have literary and art touches. In 2006, his acting in Eternal Summer got him nominated for the Best Supporting Actor and the Best New Performer at the 43th Taipei Golden Horse Awards. In 2012, his character Liam in the movie Girlfriend Boyfriend helped him gain fame and for that role, he won the Best Actor Award at the 14th Taipei Film Festival. In recent years, Joseph Chang has played brilliantly in many films, such as The Village of No Return, Love Contractually, A Nail Clipper Romance and so on in this year.