2019-02-27

SIFF NEXT| Attention, Young Filmmakers! The SIFF NEXT Opened for Submission Now!

Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) is delighted to launch the SIFF NEXT, a separate session for the incubation of new talents, which is now openly recruiting members in the Chinese-speaking region, among whom 20 will be selected to participate in the SIFF NEXT activities during the Shanghai International Film Festival in June. Registration will end on March 25, 2019.

World\'s major film festivals all attach great importance to the cultivation and support of the next generation of filmmakers while inheriting film art, encouraging new films, and communicating with the film industry. For example, the Berlin International Film Festival has set up “Berlinale Talents”, the Venice International Film Festival, the “Blennale College”, the Busan International Film Festival, the “Asian Film Academy”, and the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival of the Chinese-language region, the “Taipei Golden Horse Film Academy".

SIFF has always been committed to supporting new talents. In 2004, the ASIAN NEW TALENT AWARDS competition session was established to encourage Asia\'s emerging filmmakers. In 2007, the SIFF PROJECT session was set up. And then in the same year, short films were officially included in the competition session, with the GOLDEN GOBLET AWARDS SHORT FILM introduced. Starting from new talent mining in the short film field, SIFF, through SIFF Project, truly helps young filmmakers to create feature films and make preparations for entering the industry, and then comprehensively recommend, award, encourage young directors, screenwriters, photographers and actors/actresses with the Asian New Awards, and finally enable new talents to create more mature works as industry members to compete for the Golden Goblet Awards, thus gradually build a multistep support system for new talents.

Previously, SIFF Project undertook the functions of new talent incubation and industry popularization, but now by officially launching the independent session for new talent incubation - SIFF NEXT, it divides functions into project development and project financing, and turns the focus from projects to new filmmaking individuals, to offer more targeted support for them to enter the industry and complete their first or second feature films.

The SIFF NEXT 2019 includes two phases.

Phase I:

The 8-day SIFF NEXT Phase I will be held during the Shanghai International Film Festival. The shortlisted members will participate in the main activities of the "Training Workshop", SIFF Project, Asian New Talent Awards, Film Panorama and SIFForum to acquire film festival experience and also communicate with domestic first-line film workers to expand industry resources, enrich practical experience, and prepare for the development of new projects.

Phase II:

The 5-day Phase II will be held in December after the Shanghai International Film Festival. The organizing committee will call for the entry of feature film projects and the draft script from the finalists early in October, and select about 6 projects to enter the “Development Workshop” of this Phase. Senior film workers will be invited as instructors to provide in-depth targeted guidance on script, development, visual design, etc. for the shortlisted projects. And they will select 1-2 projects as the candidates to enter the SIFF Project “New Talent Project” of the next Shanghai International Film Festival directly.

In 2019, the SIFF NEXT Phase II plans to recruit 20 young filmmakers and is now open for submission from young filmmakers with certain filmmaking experience in the Chinese-speaking region. If you meet any of the following qualifications, then apply now! Applicants with a feature film project under development will be given priority.

a Director: Having filmed two short films, or a feature film as the director;

b Producer: Having acted as the producer for at least two short films, or a feature film;

c Screenwriter: Having created at least two short films, or a feature film as the scriptwriter;

For the submission regulations, please visit the SIFF official website: website www.siff.com. The shortlist will be announced in mid-to-late May.

In addition, the submission for the SIFF Project is closing; that for New Talent Project, SIFF Project, Co-production Project will end on March 1, 2019; and that for the WIP PROJECT will reach its deadline on March 25 with less than 1 month left.

For any questions about SIFF NEXT, please contact:

SIFF NEXT Team

siffnext@siff.com

For any questions about SIFF Project, please contact:

SIFF Project Team

project@siff.com