Shanghai—The 27th Shanghai International Film Festival opened on 13 June with jury president Giuseppe Tornatore hailing the gathering as “a powerful message of peace and coexistence” amid global strife.
The Oscar-winning Italian raised a toast—“To Shanghai! To peace! And to the eternal power of cinema!”—at the Gala Night on 14 June, cheered by a red-carpet crowd that included Andy Lau, Zhang Ziyi and more than 200 other luminaries.
Marking 130 years of world cinema and 120 years of Chinese film, this edition received a record 3,900 submissions from 119 nations; 410 titles are screening in 43 theatres across the city until 22 June.
Twelve features—eleven world premieres and one international—are vying for the Golden Goblet, to be judged by a seven-member panel that pairs Tornatore with artists from China, India, Argentina, Greece and others.
“There is no pre-established rule,” Tornatore told reporters, pledging that the jury will “devote ourselves to the experience” rather than formulas.
Saudi Arabia has set up its first festival pavilion to court co-production opportunities, while an unprecedented number of African and Latin American titles populate the competition line-up, signalling SIFF’s expanding reach.
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Yet scholars warn that Beijing’s censorship still shadows the event: academic Ma Ran describes SIFF’s quest for “being international” as constrained by state oversight, a view echoed by PEN America’s report on Chinese influence over world filmmaking.
The recent VOA profile of blacklisted director Lou Ye illustrates the career risks facing artists who cross official red lines, underscoring why many observers will watch the jury’s choices closely.
Organisers counter that SIFF remains the country’s sole festival accredited by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations and one of Asia’s largest cultural events.
Golden Goblet winners are due on 21 June; Tornatore says he hopes the verdict “will help more filmmakers seek their dreams” and prove that cinema, “like peace, belongs to everyone.”
