On June 19, the 21st SIFF PROJECT awards ceremony announced the winners. At this point, the three-day event came to a successful conclusion.
This year, the SIFF PROJECT received a total of 399 projects from 12 countries, and 42 of them stood apart from the others, including 6 finalists for "SIFF PROJECT Lab", 10 finalists for "New Talent Project", and 6 finalists for "Work in Progress". The shortlisted works have a wide range of themes, bringing together experienced practitioners and talented young directors from the industry. These works were received enthusiastic responses from the industry for the past three days and 710 negotiation meetings in total were arranged for them.
Following the addition of the "SIFF PROJECT Lab" for incubation and education last year, this year\'s SIFF PROJECT continued to explore and improve the support for the new generation of filmmakers, adding a promotion unit of "Work in Progress", expanding the scope of applicant to projects that have already been filmed, and providing support for post-production and distribution at home and abroad.
In addition, this year\'s SIFF PROJECT has further played the role of gathering high-quality industrial resources and introduced more industry resources, which can be seen in the setting of the cooperation title awards. A total of eight cooperative units set up awards in SIFF PROJECT this year, including not only renowned movie companies or director studios such as Alibaba Pictures, The Seven Art Picture, Emperor Motion Pictures, Wanda Pictures and Dirty Monkeys Studio, but also support funds for project implementation supported by the Cangcheng Film and TV Park of Songjiang Science and Technology Studio, as well as training and education opportunities provided by Shanghai\'s key cultural and educational project "ShanghaiTech-USC SCA Masterclass". There is also a "Work in Progress" link added this year, which is a post-production support service in cooperation with China\'s top post-production company, Phenom Films. This year, the SIFF PROJECT has introduced a total of eight industry awards, supported 10 projects with a total bonus value of RMB 1.35 million yuan.
As an influential film project financing event in Asia, for the past 12 years, the SIFF PROJECT has seen 54 films go into production. The event featured the latest development of SIFF PROJECT in the past year, including: the 2013 finalist A Touch of Spring (He Xiaodan) which has now been screened at the 2017 Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival and the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma in Canada; the 2016 finalist Blue Amber (Zhou Jie) has been shortlisted for the Best Film Award at the 21st SIFF Asian New Talent Awards; One Night on the Wharf (Han Dong) has been shortlisted for the main competition unit at the New Currents section of 2017 Busan International Film Festival; The Road Not Taken (Tang Gaopeng) has been nominated for the Best Director Award of the Asian New Talent Awards at this year\'s Shanghai International Film Festival; and the 2017 finalist The Examinee (Wang Nianyi ) for the “SIFF PROJECT Lab” has been in production. Over the years, beginning from the SIFF PROJECT, a group of filmmakers have gone on to be nominated by the Asian New Talent Awards, shortlisted for the Golden Goblet Awards, and even serve as judges of the Asian New Talent Awards and the Golden Goblet Awards. Obviously, with unremitting efforts, the Shanghai International Film Festival is forming a step-by-step incubation system of SIFF PROJECT - Asian New Talent Award - Golden Goblet Awards for new talents and new works.
Today, based on the originality and creativity of the projects, the jury panel awarded the “Best Young Director Project” to one of the 10 “New Talent Project” projects, and the winning project was Blood and Water directed by Lin Jianjie. Among the remaining 20 finalists apart from those of “New Talent Project”, the award for "Most Creative Project" was won this year by Hot Soup and Good Night. The jury comments on Hot Soup were: “An extremely creative contemporary work. Smart conception hides in its realistic appearance. It skillfully depicts the emotional dilemma of the digital age with a relaxing and vivid register, but full of thoughts and artistic tastes.” As for Good Night, the jury thought: “This is such a unique mix. Fresh and original. The crossed fate in the story is ridiculous but real. The form and the plot all come from the reality, but after reassembling, it shows a taste of postmodernism. Thought provoking. Hopefully, it could become a work of richness.” After comprehensively evaluating the commercial potential of the projects, the jury panel awarded the honor of "Most Bankable Project" to The Kidnapping, and the comments given were: “This is a magical story of two left-behind fools trying to fit into the main stream society. It offers a critical and penetrating observation of the communications among different social classes, which looks ridiculous, but is more than real. Looking forward to its completion.”
LIST OF THE HONOURED
“Best Talent Project”
One project from the “New Talent Project” category will be honoured as “Best Talent Project” by the SIFF PROJECT jury panel according to the originality and creativity to encourage the unique style of the director.
Blood and Water (Director: LIN Jianjie, Producer: ZHENG Yue, WANG Yiwen)
Jury Comments:
The director sharply observes the impact that two-children policy has on a modern Chinese family and discusses the issue in the appearance of a genre film.
“Most Creative Project”
One project from the SIFF PROJECT finalists apart from those of “New Talent Project” will be honoured as “Most Creative Project” by the SIFF PROJECT jury panel according to the originality and creativity.
-Hot Soup (Director: ZHANG Ming, Producer: LYU Xinyu, ZHANG Ming)
Jury Comments:
An extremely creative contemporary work. Smart conception hides in its realistic appearance. It skillfully depicts the emotional dilemma of the digital age with a relaxing and vivid register, but full of thoughts and artistic tastes.
-Good Night (Director: HU Jia, Producer: HUANG Xufeng)
Jury Comments:
This is such a unique mix. Fresh and original. The crossed fate in the story is ridiculous but real. The form and the plot all comes from the reality, but after reassembling, it show a taste of postmodernism. Thought provoking. Hope it could become a work of richness.
“Most Bankable Project”
One project from the SIFF PROJECT finalists will be honoured as “Most Bankable Project” by the SIFF PROJECT jury panel according to the commercial value.
The Kidnapping (Director: WANG Yichun, Producer: YANG Ying)
Jury Comments:
This is a magical story of two left-behind fools trying to fit into the main stream society. It offers a critical and penetrating observation of the communications among different social classes, which looks ridiculous, but more real than reality. Looking forward to its completion.
Sponsored Awards
Alibaba Pictures A Project Most Anticipated Award
The project selected by Alibaba Pictures A Project will receive RMB 150,000 for script development.
Anchor Baby (Director: JING Ran, Producer: Mickey LIU)
The Seventh Film Award
The one selected by The Seventh Art Picture will win RMB 150,000 in cash.
A Story of Hers (Director: Vivian WANG, Producer: Gilda ZHAO)
Emperor Film Award
One cash award of RMB 150,000 will be presented to a project for its originality and creativity. The winner will be selected by the executives of Emperor Motion Pictures and will enter a development deal with Emperor.
Game of Identity (Director: Leon CHENG, Producer: Stephen LAM)
Wanda Film Award
One cash award of RMB 150,000 will be presented to one project for its originality and creativity. The winner will be selected by the executives of Wanda Pictures and enter a development deal with Wanda.
The Post-Truth World (Director: I-Fu CHEN, Producer: Cody HUANG)
Dirty Monkeys 72 Transformations Award
The one selected by Dirty Monkeys Studios will win RMB 150,000 in cash.
A Story of Hers (Director: Vivian WANG, Producer: Gilda ZHAO)
Cangcheng Film & Television Cultural Industry Park of Songjiang Technology Film Center Supporting Fund
One project selected by Shanghai Cangcheng Film & Television Cultural Industry Park will win RMB 150,000 in cash and will be offered registration assistance after signing a contract.
Summer Station (Director: Mai Mai, Producer: YANG Cheng, Mai Mai)
Phenom Films Award
Phenom Films will select two projects from “SIFF WIP Projects”. Each winner will be awarded a post-production package which is worth RMB 150,000 by Phenom Films Post-Production Operation Center.
The Kid and The Sea (Director: SUN Aoqian, Producer: SUN Aoqian)
The Theory of Carnivore (Director: DUAN Chunyu, Producer: YUE Guanting, JIANG Xiao)
ShanghaiTech-USC SCA Producing Awards
Shanghai Tech University will select and waive the tuition fee to two producers of 2018 SIFF PROJECTS to participate in the Shanghai Tech-USC School of Cinematic Arts Producing Workshops, a professional training program worth 75,000 RMB.
Peaches On the Beach (Producer: WANG Xiyang)
Out of Service (Producer: LI Mingyang)
Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism
