W&B booth at the Film Transaction Market

Place: Shanghai Exhibition  Center

Address: 1000 Middle Yan’an Road, Jing’an District, Shanghai

Booth No.: E27

| Brief Introduction to the Shanghai International Film Festival

The 18^th Shanghai International Film Festival will be held from June 13^th to June 21^st, 2015.

Founded in 1993, the Shanghai International Film Festival is the only Class A international film festival inChinathat is recognized by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations. Due to the rapid development of the Chinese film industry and the globalization of the international film industry, the Festival has built an international platform that focuses on the awards, the market, the forum and the film screening, in order to promote the development of the Chinese film industry as well as communication and cooperation between the domestic and international film industries.

In recent yearsChina’s rising economic power has triggered a rise in its international standing, and as a consequence Chinese films are attracting more and more attention from the rest of the world. The Shanghai International Film Festival is held in June each year and has become something of a summit meeting for filmmakers around the world. Its extensive appeal within the industry, strong international influence, representation of the world’s multiple film cultures and effect on the development of the film industry have been greatly admired by observers both inside and outside the film industry.

| Awards Session

The awards given out at the Shanghai International Film Festival includes the Golden Goblet Award for international film selection and the Rising Star Asian Award. Each year celebrities from the international film industry are invited to form a panel for the appraisal and selection of candidate films. In past years panel chairpersons have included Gong Li, Tom Hooper, Luc Besson, Wong Karwai, Danny Boyle, Barry Levinson, Oliver Stone and others. The 2014 Shanghai International Film Festival attracted 1,099 candidate films for competition and 1,808 candidate films for exhibition. Seven of the 15 finalists for the Golden Goblet Award screened their world premieres, which included works directed by masters such as Schlondorff and Masayuki Suo.

The main competition session — the Golden Goblet Award for international film selection — displayed the professionalism, authority and influence of the Festival. Two new awards, i.e. Best Documentary and Best Animation, will be added this year. The Rising Star Asian Award is dedicated to discovering and launching rising film stars in Asia and rewarding creativity in Asian films. The appraisal and award system will undergo extensive upgrading this year as the final candidates are replaced with nominees.

| Film Transaction Market

The film transaction market of the Shanghai International Film Festival is the most professional film transaction platform in China. Each year it attracts major film production and distribution companies from both home and abroad as well as hundreds of international buyers. Renowned domestic and foreign exhibitors represent areas such as film investment and financing, production, post-production, special effects, visual effects, distribution, marketing, legal affairs and games, which taken together create a diversified market structure. The International Film Market first emerged in 2014. Since then it has prompted over 400 heavyweight domestic and foreign exhibitors to set up exhibitions for over 2,867 buyers.

| Film Project Market

The Film Project Market of the Shanghai International Film Festival (the “SIFF PROJECT”) was born in 2006. It has become Asia’s most influential film project financing market as well as the oldest film project financing market in mainland China. The SIFF PROJECT has played an important bridging role during the past years of rapid development in the Chinese film industry,　and it has now become an important platform with an excellent industry reputation for helping the world discover rising stars in Chinese-language films. Each year the SIFF PROJECT welcomes about 30 outstanding candidate feature fiction film projects (10 of which are part of the “Youth Film Plan”), including the latest film plans of well-known directors and the creative works of new filmmakers. The SIFF PROJECT also provides candidate projects with the opportunity to meet investors, producers, distributors and even promotional media. The SIFF PROJECT, reintegrated and upgraded in 2014, received sign-ups from 253 projects from 24 countries. Of the 28 final candidate projects, eight were Youth Film Plan projects. It also attracted 732 buyers to the market. A total of 455 one-on-one negotiations were held, and cooperation aspirations were achieved for all projects.

| Film Forum

The Film Forum of the Shanghai International Film Festival goes by the motto “Chinese Methods with International Value”. Because it provides professional services to the film industry, it is the most featured and influential industry communication platform among all of the world’s film festivals. This year’s Golden Goblet Film Forum will invite senior industry practitioners to discuss the industry from the perspectives of artistic creation, industrial patterns, film financing, Internet concepts and market improvement. The Forum will also focus on all sectors of the industrial chain and represent the Festival’s creativity, sensitivity and far-sighted perspective by utilizing the concepts of cross-industry cooperation, fusion and market extension.

| International Film Screening

The International Film Screening of the Shanghai International Film Festival will operate a unique multi-screening platform. Special Units including Tributes to Masters, Official Recommendations, Premiere Ceremonies, Jackie Chan’s Film Week, Focus on China, Classic Shots, Multiple Perspectives, 4K Renovated Class Film Show, and Global Village are set for the film screening this year. Presenting films that display different styles, the International Film Screening provides an exhibition and communication platform for film industry practitioners from all over the world, as well as a window for the public and media to learn about the dynamics of the world film industry.

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Picture by Jashiina