The 2024 SIFF YOUNG x Shanghai Young Filmmakers Support Program announced the list of the final recommendation team today: well-known director Guan Hu will serve as the chairman of the final recommendation team, producer and executive producer Liang Lin, director, screenwriter and actor Liang Ming, producer Xu Yuezhen, and producer and screenwriter Zhang Jialu (in alphabetical order of their surnames) will serve as final recommenders.

Young filmmakers are crucial to the continued development of the film industry. They can always bring fresh perspectives, unique thinking and working methods that keep pace with the times. They are the source of vitality for the continuous self-iteration of films, and directors, producers and screenwriters are the core elements. Over the years, Shanghai has continued to pay attention to the development of young filmmakers. The 2021 SIFF YOUNG × Shanghai Young Filmmakers Support Program was officially launched, and 12 representative outstanding young filmmakers have been recommended.

In 2024, the third SIFF YOUNG×Shanghai Young Filmmakers Support Program was officially launched in March this year. After industry nominations and other work, five senior filmmakers were invited to form the final selection recommendation team to select the young directors, producers and screenwriters who were finally selected this year. Each of the final recommendation panelists is a leading figure in the Chinese film industry. They not only pay long-term attention to the development of young filmmakers and continue to cooperate with them, but have also participated in the relevant sections of the Shanghai International Film Festival's 6+1 Ladder Newcomer Support Program as a judge and mentor many times.

Director Guan Hu, chairman of this year's final selection recommendation group, was the chairman of the jury for the 2017 Film Project Venture Capital; producer and executive producer Liang Lin has served as a judge for the Film Project Venture Capital many times; director, screenwriter and actor Liang Ming's first feature film "Under the Sun" was initially presented at the 2012 Film Project Venture Capital in the script stage. After completion, it was selected for the 2020 Asian Newcomer Unit and was selected for the first SIFF YOUNG×Shanghai Young Filmmakers Support Program in 2021; producer Xu Yuezhen was a judge for the 2018 Film Project Venture Capital and a judge for the 2023 Asian Newcomer Unit; producer and screenwriter Zhang Jialu was a judge for the 2017 Film Project Venture Capital and a mentor for the 2023 Venture Capital Training Camp.

After rigorous and thorough discussions, the final selection committee has selected the directors, producers and screenwriters for this year's SIFF YOUNG×Shanghai Young Filmmakers Support Program. The shortlist will be announced during the 26th Shanghai International Film Festival.

Chairman of the Final Selection Committee

Guan Hu

director

Graduated from the Directing Department of Beijing Film Academy, his works have a strong personal style, full of humanistic care and realistic criticism. He is good at using sharp and unique innovative perspectives, vivid and realistic lens language and exquisite audio-visual technology to accurately convey the cognition and examination of the society and the world by small people in the big background. He is known as one of the pioneers of the sixth generation of Chinese film directors. His works have won awards at many film festivals at home and abroad. His representative works include: "Dog Array" (2024), "Eight Hundred" (2020), "King Kong River" (2020), "My People, My Country" (2019), "Mr. Six" (2015), "The Chef, the Actor, the Scoundrel" (2013), "Bullfighting" (2009), "Killing" (2012).

As a practitioner, first of all, it is very important to be healthy physically and mentally. The words "physical and mental" actually mean a lot. Second, personal life experience is not the most important. Creation outside of personal life experience may be the most challenging for creators. I hope young filmmakers can meet everyone's expectations in this regard.

Final selection recommendation team members

Liang Lin

Supervisor, Producer

He is currently the General Manager of Production and Project Development of Emperor Motion Pictures, and a senior supervisor and producer. He has taught at Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts and the School of Design of Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His representative works as supervisor and producer include "Vanguard" (2015), "The Little Shop of Sorrow" (2017), "Nobody" (2018), "The Brink" (2020), "The Antique Bureau" (2021), "On the Cliff" (2021), "Raging Fire" (2021), etc., and his works have excellent audience reputation and box office performance.

Know yourself: know your strengths and weaknesses; know your enemy: not only understand your partners, but also know the audience and market conditions you face. Only when creators know themselves and their enemies can they give full play to their greatest advantages and present their works to the public in a better way.

Liang Ming

Director, screenwriter, actor

As an actor, he has starred in films such as "Ghost Days" (2014), "Stories of Yong'an Town" (2021), and "An Unfinished Film". His directorial debut "Under the Sun" (2019) was shortlisted for the 49th Rotterdam International Film Festival, the 23rd Shanghai International Film Festival and other domestic and international festivals; won the Fei Mu Honorary Best Director and Roberto Rossellini Honorary Jury Award at the 3rd Pingyao International Film Festival; the Best Director of the Firebird Award at the 44th Hong Kong International Film Festival; won the Best New Director at the 29th Shanghai Film Critics Society and was nominated for the Best New Director at the 14th Asian Film Awards. His new work "Xiaoyao·You" (2024) was shortlisted for the International New Director Competition Unit of the 71st San Sebastian International Film Festival and was selected as the opening film of the unit; won the Best Film of the Youth Jury Honor at the 7th Pingyao International Film Festival; the Best Director of the Firebird Award at the 48th Hong Kong International Film Festival; and the Best Film of the "Focus on the Future" unit at the 14th Beijing International Film Festival.

Young filmmakers may feel lonely in their creation, but they can go out appropriately, open themselves up, and communicate with more partners in the industry. Because film creation must be a process of joint creation. Young creators should stick together to keep each other warm and encourage each other.

Xu Yuezhen

Producer

She produced the films Derek Tsang's Better Days (2019) and Peter Chan's Leap Year (2020), which represented Hong Kong and Mainland China in the Oscars for Best International Film. As an all-round producer, Hui Yuet-chun has served in various roles in film creation and production, and has been nominated for Best Screenplay twice at the 22nd and 27th Hong Kong Film Awards.

In the early 1990s, Xu Yuezhen entered the film industry as a screenwriter and assistant director. In 2000, she joined Peter Chan's film company, Asia Films, and served as a producer, such as "Three Watches: Going Home" (2002), "The Warlords" (2007), "Wu Xia" (2011) and "Dear" (2014). In recent years, Xu Yuezhen has been committed to cultivating new talents, including Zeng Guoxiang's personal directorial debut "July and Ansheng" (2016), and Xu Hongyu's first film "Like You" (2017), which he transformed from an editor to a director. In 2017, she and Zeng Guoxiang founded the film company Good Kids Productions, which launched works such as "Better Days".

Thank you to all the young filmmakers. You have done a great job. Even though the film has some flaws, it still moved me. I really want to thank you and ask you to keep making it.

Zhang Jialu

Producer, Screenwriter

Graduated from the Department of Sociology of National Chengchi University and the Graduate Institute of Drama of Taipei National University of the Arts. Previously worked as a magazine editor and TV director. Currently works as the producer and creative director of Beijing Kung Fu Films.

Representative works as a screenwriter include A World Without Thieves (2005), The Sound of Wind (2009), and Turning the Mountain (2011). The short story Terrorist (2007) won the Taiwan Literature Award. Other screenwriter works include Mei Lanfang (2008), Detective Di Renjie (2010), Tai Chi (Part 1 and Part 2) (2012), Detective Di Renjie: The Mysterious Capital Dragon King (2013), Mojin: The Lost Tomb (2015), and Detective Di Renjie: The Four Heavenly Kings (2018). He also supervised the films A Cloud Made of Rain in the Wind (2019) and The Order of the Samurai (2021). His film supervisory works A Journey Across the Moon and A Small Shop at the Edge of the Clouds, and the web drama Night Traveler, will be released soon. His screenwriter works have won many important film awards.

For young creators, it's just six words: keep shooting and keep surviving. For creators who have been in this industry for a while, have achieved certain results, and want to stay in this industry for a long time, I hope you can achieve a relatively good balance between marketability and creation.

"SIFF YOUNG x Shanghai Young Filmmakers Support Program" is a film talent support program guided by the Shanghai Film Bureau and implemented by the Shanghai International Film Festival. It has been successfully held for two sessions, and has introduced 12 young filmmakers, including Donghe, Han Shuai, Li Xiaofeng, Liang Ming, Liu Xunzimo, Rao Xiaozhi, Shao Yihui, Shen Ao, Wang Jing, Wen Muye, You Xiaoying, and Zeng Guoxiang. In recent years, the selected filmmakers have created many excellent films such as "The Journey Home", "Never Stop", and "Xiaoyaoyou", which have been well received and gradually become an indispensable force in the development of Chinese films.