Shanghai’s 27th International Film Festival has unveiled a 49-title Golden Goblet roster selected from a record 2,800 submissions representing 119 countries and regions, signalling robust international appetite for the mainland’s biggest cinema event.
The films will compete across five sections—main feature, Asian New Talent, documentary, animation and short film—after programmers sifted through 3,900-plus entries in total. Notable contenders include Poland’s “Loss of Balance,” Germany’s “Luisa,” and Shinya Tsukamoto’s Japanese drama “On Summer Sand,” underscoring the mix of European art-house voices and Asian auteurs that typifies the Shanghai selection.
Festival organisers confirmed that Hong Kong director Peter Chan’s period crime epic “She’s Got No Name,” starring Zhang Ziyi, will open the ten-day gathering on 13 June and play simultaneously in more than 100 cinemas city-wide the following night, a move aimed at boosting public engagement. The full screening timetable drops on 3 June, with tickets available from 5 June through Damai and Taopiaopiao.
Italian Oscar-winner Giuseppe Tornatore will preside over the main-competition jury. Accepting the role, the “Cinema Paradiso” director called festivals “moments when filmmakers from many countries meet, exchange ideas, and above all watch brilliant films together,” while urging young directors to seize the platform.
Founded in 1993, SIFF is Asia’s longest-running FIAPF-accredited festival and routinely screens more than 400 features across Shanghai each June. This year’s emphasis on fresh voices is reflected in an Asian New Talent slate that organisers say received a surge of entries from Latin America and Africa, territories historically under-represented in the competition.
Beyond competition, SIFF will host masterclasses, a Belt-and-Road film week and a market designed to reignite cross-border co-production after pandemic-era disruptions, according to the festival’s Beijing press briefing last week. With Shanghai lifting most travel restrictions, industry observers expect a strong in-person turnout from sales agents and streaming executives eager to court Chinese and regional buyers.
As the countdown begins, organisers are betting that the blend of global premieres, heavyweight jury names and city-wide public screenings will reinforce Shanghai’s position as a pivotal bridge between China’s booming film sector and the wider cinematic world.