The 21st Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) was Unveiled

 

Shanghai’s early summer is cool, but today everywhere is imbued with a festival atmosphere. The Red-Carpet Ceremony and the Golden Goblet Ceremony of the opening of the 21st Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) were held in the Shanghai Grand Theatre. Domestic and overseas film artists, actors and actresses, behind-the-scenes workers and film institution representatives have stepped onto "Asia’s No. 1 Red Carpet" to attend this film festival and started the ten-day star-studded event.

 

 

The red-carpet ceremony at the opening of SIFF, known as the "Asia\'s No. 1 Red Carpet", attracted a large number of celebrities again this year. A strong red-carpet team, led by Jiang Wen, Chairman of the Golden Goblet Awards Committee, Chang Chen, Taiwanese Chinese actor, Ildikó Enyedi, Hungarian movie director and screenwriter, Semih Kaplanoglu, Turkish movie director, screenwriter and producer, David Permut, American producer and Qin Hailu, Chinese actress, combining elegance and skill. Naomi Kawase, Jury member of the Golden Goblet Awards, Japanese movie director, screenwriter, producer, and actress was absent from SIFF for physical reasons.

That night, the crew of "Animal World", the opening movie of SIFF, were the first to step onto the red carpet. Subsequently, the crews of "Lost, Found", "Ala Changso" and other main competition films of the Golden Goblet Awards, the crews of over 30 new domestic movies which are being filmed or will soon be launched, such as “Hidden Man”, “Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings”, “Dying to Survive”, and “The Meg” appeared one after the other. Among the stars, the involvement of movie artists Zhang Jinlai (Liu Xiao Ling Tong), Ma Dehua, Yu Benzheng, Shi Xiaohua, Bao Zhifang, Lu Ping, Wu Zhennian, Qiao Zhen, Mao Shanyu, Shang Changrong, Yan Xingpeng, Gong Hanlin, Ye Xin, and Niu Ben added more prestige to "Asia\'s No. 1 Red Carpet."

 

Representatives appeared from 31 film institutions in the 29 countries that have just signed the "Belt and Road" Film Festival Alliance Agreement, formed the “Belt and Road” Film Culture Exchange Delegation. In addition, the international film crew delegation led by Thierry Fremaux, Director of the Cannes International Film Festival, the “Movie Studio Director Delegation”, consisting of a group of 16 movie studios and production agencies all around China, were also the highlights of the event tonight, which demonstrated the multi-culture of SIFF.

 

Representing the international scene, famous actors such as Jason Statham, Nicholas Cage, and Christopher Waltz brought the red-carpet atmosphere to a climax.

The Jury for documentary movies was led by Pirjo Honkasalo, Finnish documentary movie director, photographer, screenwriter and producer, the Jury for cartoon movies was led by Jacques-Rémy Girerd, French animation director, and the Jury for the Asian New Talent Awards, chaired by Shi Nansun, Hong Kong film-maker and Xu Zheng, famous Chinese director, producer and actor, and the Jury members for SIFF PROJECT also appeared on the red carpet.

 

Since its inception in 1993, SIFF has become not only a grand event for Chinese films and Chinese film-makers, but also a “film panorama” for film lovers from Shanghai and the rest of China. Lasting less than ten days, the film festival is the showcase of dreams. Films are the windows of dreams. Countless people share their joy and plan for their future through films and film festivals. During SIFF, we can see many people who have devoted the majority of their lives to film.

Representatives of behind-the-scenes film workers Hu Yu’e (second from left), 4K film restorer, Zhang Guohui (third from left), film sub-title translator, and Li Shude (second from right), former art designer of Shanghai Caoyang Cinema were invited onto the stage.

 

On the evening of the Golden Goblet Ceremony, SIFF’S Organising Committee specially invited three behind-the-scenes film workers onto the stage, who determinedly pursued their film dreams and they were applauded by all the guests and the audience.

 

4K film restorer Hu Yu’e has been working in film for 35 years, and in the more than ten years she has focused on film restoration, she and her four-member team have restored more than 28,000 photographic films, equivalent to 2,000movies. When Hu Yu’e was asked why she could possibly keep doing this rather boring job year after year, her answer was simple: because she loved it.

 

Zhang Guohui, a film sub-title translator, has been engaged in the translation of film subtitles since he obtained Masters in English Linguistics. Zhang Guohui’s job was not to translate foreign film lines into Chinese, but to translate Chinese films into foreign languages and help Chinese films “become international”. Classic Chinese movies such as “Hibiscus Town”, “The Herdsman” and “Woman Basketball Player No.5” all went global because of him.

 

Li Shude, the former art designer of Shanghai’s Caoyang Cinema, had a job that was familiar to the older generation of cinema-goers: he created posters, although the younger audience found that unfamiliar. After designing thousands of movie posters over many years, Li Shude said with deep affection: "I have done my best for every poster I made, and I love each poster very much. It’s hard to choose my favourite. Now this role has disappeared, but I don’t feel lost: only extremely grateful to the city of Shanghai and the film industry, which gave me the opportunity to use my talents. We acted as the city’s memory; we also left a legacy of touching topics for the film industry. We have no regrets."

 

If movie-making can be considered as a big machine, then every cog is indispensable. There is no "ranking" for film-makers. Every job is irreplaceable and worthy of respect. After listening to the serious and simple stories of the behind-the-scenes workers, the guests were all deeply moved and applauded in tribute to those workers.

 

At the end of the ceremony, famous American actor Nicholas Cage, the 68th winner of the Academy Awards for best actor, and Christopher Waltz, Austrian actor, Oscar and Golden Globe Best Supporting Actor, Cannes Film Festival winner for best actor, announced the opening film of this year’s SIFF: the Chinese feature film "Animal World". This was the world premiere of the film.