With the announcement of the various honors of the main competition unit of this year's Golden Goblet Awards, the 26th Shanghai International Film Festival is also coming to an end. In ten days, movies and cities have defined and inspired each other, opening up unlimited imagination space for the high-quality development of Chinese films. On the last weekend, movie fans seized the time and actively "extremely squatted" online and offline to enjoy the city's annual light and shadow carnival.

In this year's official poster, the golden halo behind the "City of Movies" is the outline of four old movie theaters in Shanghai - Lyceum Theater, Cathay Cinema, Grand Cinema, and Shanghai Film City. The entire film festival, from the architecture to the people in the city, from the past lights and shadows on the screen to the future discussed in the offline industry exchange of views, all reflect the endless vitality of this "City of Movies".

The background of the official poster of this year's Shanghai Film Festival is four old cinemas in Shanghai.

Movie fans answer with practical actions: Why go to film festivals to watch movies

In the past ten days, good movies have been the "source of happiness" for the entire city.

Some people re-read Duras in the cinema, some people gritted their teeth and watched a night show of Tarkovsky in the heavy rain, "watching the whole time with complete concentration and without sleeping for a minute!" Some people didn't get the most popular tickets, so they bought blind boxes of niche Indian movies, and the result was "it was so good that it brought tears to their eyes", and some people only bought "neck-hurting" seats in the second row when they rushed for tickets, but unexpectedly got the opportunity to be close to their favorite directors at the post-screening meet-and-greet.

According to official data, this year's Shanghai Film Festival screened 1,672 shows and held 88 audience meetings. Among them, 47 screening theaters in Shanghai screened 461 films from 64 countries and regions for a total of 1,636 shows and held 82 audience meetings.

As the main competition unit that reflects the professionalism and influence of the film festival, 14 films of various countries and styles were screened in 31 sessions, 30 of which were quickly sold out. In the main competition unit, Gu Changwei, Guan Hu, Zhang Dalei and Wei Shujun represent the backbone of the current Chinese film creation, showing the world the records and thoughts of Chinese filmmakers on the times.

The Asian Newcomer section, which focuses on the director's first two works, reflects the rising momentum of new Asian film forces this year. The animation, documentary and short film sections show the Golden Goblet Award's sensitivity and foresight in the current film aesthetics. Judge and documentary director Duan Jinchuan exclaimed: "This time in Shanghai, I saw a film that excited me very much. It's been a long time since I saw this type of documentary, with its reflection and poetry!"

Sha Dan, a film curator at the China Film Archive, took a special vacation to watch the Shanghai International Film Festival. "When I arrived in Shanghai, I felt like I was somewhere else. I really enjoyed this vacation. I watched four or five movies a day, and two a day at least. In addition, I met with many old friends. The 10-day trip was packed."

On June 18, Shadan attended the Shanghai International Film Festival's "Integration and Symbiosis: Film and City Forum".

In the backend data of Taopiaopiao this year, out-of-town IDs accounted for nearly 30% of the ticket purchases. One part of the reason for this is that Shanghai fans mobilized relatives and friends from other places to help grab tickets, but from the luggage storage services opened by major cinemas, we can also see many out-of-town fans rushing to the theaters.

As of 8pm on June 20, this year's 495,000 moviegoers, 28% of whom are from other places, came to Shanghai, with fans from Suzhou, Hangzhou and Beijing ranking in the top three. According to data provided by travel platform Ctrip, from June to now, the Shanghai International Film Festival has attracted 50,000 non-local users to Shanghai, with hotel consumption exceeding 20,000 rooms per night. Hotels within a 2-kilometer radius around the main venue, Shanghai Film City, were fully booked every day during the film festival, with an average of more than 5,000 people staying every day.

Why did you come to the Shanghai International Film Festival to watch a movie? Before the opening of the film festival, the rush for tickets had already made it break the circle on the Internet. Going to a city for a film festival is a practice of a beautiful lifestyle, and the film festival facilitated hundreds of such wonderful encounters this year.

The first Asian animated film "Princess Iron Fan", which was newly restored in 4K, was scheduled to premiere at the century-old Lyceum Theatre, which has become a good story of "old movies returning home". It was not a traditional film company that restored the classic legend, but the emerging Shanghai game company Eagle Point Network, which produced the popular game "Arknights". The linkage between film and games has brought new vitality to the film, and while reviving traditions, it is also an exploration and innovation of cultural heritage.

Princess Iron Fan poster

When Fellini's "La Strada" ended, some audience members whistled the classic tunes from the movie, causing fellow moviegoers to exclaim, "What a great atmosphere."

When "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" ended, a real-life version of the "Midnight Surprise" Easter egg was staged. "Leatherface" suddenly appeared on the side of the second floor of the theater, and movie fans played memes to make the on-site experience even better.

Some fans also discovered that the dream in the second half of "Paprika" took place at midnight, and the movie ended at exactly this time. The surprise brought by the movie-watching plot further increased the fun of watching the movie.

Leatherface appears in the midnight surprise unit. Image from the Internet

The joy of watching a movie goes far beyond the movie itself.

The coser "Miss Bad" is a fan of Satoshi Kon's movies. This time, she not only made her own ticket stubs for "Perfect Blue" and "Paprika" and distributed them to fans at the scene, but also dressed up as Paprika in the movie to watch the movie. "It was my first time to post 'Uncensored' and I made a lot of new friends and took some life photos. It was a super happy day!"

Miss Bad Cosplay Red Hot Chili Pepper

The Majestic Theatre, as the main location for "Batman" this year, also has cosplayers on duty. The "real" Batman revealed on Xiaohongshu that two years ago, he took photos in front of the Majestic Theatre for fun, and now he has become the official cosplayer guarding the place. He was also surrounded by fans because of his enthusiasm for drawing for them, which made him sigh, "When Batman can draw, no one wants to take photos with him."

This year's Meiqi is the home of "Batman". Image source: Xiaohongshu netizen notes

It is not only young people who dress up for the movie. At the Shanghai International Film Festival, some elderly movie fans put on their carefully selected cheongsams and made a special trip to the Lanxin to watch the new Shanghainese dubbing of "Crows and Sparrows". After watching the movie, they can also make an appointment with their old sisters to have afternoon tea + citywalk on the city streets, which is the most fashionable activity for young people.

Shadan commented that the films at the Shanghai Film Festival were "all-encompassing". In addition to traditional classics, many unpopular films from niche countries also gave him unexpected surprises. In addition, this year's Queen's concert and Talking Heads' concert movie versions also made Shadan feel precious. "If you just scroll through them, there are 20 or 30 movies that are hard to choose."

On social networks, “wild film critics” also make the atmosphere of the film festival lively in another dimension, “madly recommending” their favorite movies and helping their friends “avoid mines” for bad viewing experiences.

“No one plays with their phones, no one eats snacks, no one kicks their chairs, and everyone waits quietly until the end credits roll to the last row, then applauds together; when leaving the theater, you can hear others discussing the plot of the movie and telling their own understanding of the film.” This is the “Cinema Paradiso” that movie fans yearn for.

In the fan group, rough electronic document spreadsheets record the daily joys, sorrows, anger and happiness of moviegoers in the most simple and direct way. On the Internet, the topic of "police dispatch" continues to be hot. Although there are occasional frictions, it is also an excellent opportunity to popularize civilized etiquette for watching movies.

After watching Pulp Fiction with thousands of other viewers at the Grandview Theater, movie fan eeeeeeee wrote on Xiaohongshu, "There are a thousand of you and me who are escaping from our own life coordinates to dream a common dream..."

Notes from fans of Xiaohongshueeeeeeee

"Shanghai Limited" brings a full sense of ceremony to the film festival

How can the happiness of the city of movies be achieved without the participation of cinemas? As the most important venue of the Shanghai International Film Festival, 47 cinemas in 16 districts this year have updated ticket exchange machines, upgraded subtitle machines, and provided a variety of customized exclusive peripherals and packages. "This year's cinema special coupons" show that each cinema has put a lot of thought into enhancing the participation of moviegoers.

From blind boxes in previous years to stamp collection this year, cinemas are increasingly keeping up with the trend of young people. Different stamps in different cinemas have their own characteristics. As a "limited time" of the Shanghai Film Festival, stamps and limited ticket stubs and peripherals have become popular on social networks and have become the hottest "fashion items" of this year's Shanghai Film Festival.

Stamp Collection Results Display

In conjunction with the official release of the "City Stroll Art Guide", 10 cinemas including Grandview Cinema, Cathay Cinema, and Lyceum Theatre have a unified "26th SIFF" stamp, as well as a stamp that is exclusive to the cinema and reflects the architectural features of the cinema. Wanda, Paragon, Magnolia and other cinemas have also launched their own themed stamps, allowing movie fans to have more fun while watching movies.

The Citizens' Movie Handbook, nicknamed "Movie Guide" by movie fans, returned after four years. Due to its popularity, it was in short supply. The Lyceum Theater, which joined the film festival screening venue for the first time, released a paper promotional leaflet of "Lychee" every day, which was full of old-fashioned flavor.

"Ten Days of Orchid Heart"

In the past few days, at the exhibition counter at the entrance of Shanghai Film City, postal envelopes with the Chinese film dragon logo have attracted many viewers to line up, and have been dubbed as "the most worthwhile peripheral" by movie fans. Compared with the appeal of stamps and ticket stubs to young people, stamps have also attracted the enthusiastic participation of many middle-aged and elderly people.

stamp

Among the various items for sale, the official ticket folder, with its affordable price of 15 yuan, has won the reputation of being the "most practical peripheral". Many fans said that the printed paper is relatively thin and bends when folded, so the ticket folder provides a "shelter" for fans to preserve their perfect memories. Many movie-watching groups also made relevant ticket folders according to different movie themes and distributed them at irregular intervals on site to add surprises for fans.

Maggie, who started the trend of "commemorative ticket stubs", used commemorative ticket stubs of her own design to form a "screening wall" this year. Since the tickets were limited to 166, some "determined to get one" fans even went to line up at the theater entrance two or three hours in advance.

Majestic Theatre uses homemade commemorative ticket stubs to compile a schedule

Movie fan Xixi left the theater in a hurry after the movie "Imagine the Light" ended because she had to catch the subway. At the subway station, a young man saw her carrying a film festival bag and took the initiative to ask if she had just finished watching "Imagine the Light". After getting a positive answer, "the young man gave me a commemorative ticket stub and left. I suddenly felt that the film festival really took place in every space in the city."

During his trip to the Shanghai Film Festival, Shadan observed that "the audiences in Shanghai have a lot of spontaneous interactions outside of the movies, such as material derivatives. Cinemas and fans will make their own ticket folders and ticket stubs to distribute, which is very interesting and also provides a very good inspiration for the entire film industry in the future. In the past, people just watched a movie and that was it, and regarded the cinema as a place of pure entertainment. Now cinemas embody more social interaction, connecting the friendships between fans through movies."

Cinemas like Wanping Theater and Caoyang Cinema, which are not so convenient for transportation, have also gained fans on social networks this year with their high-quality services. Someone praised the young man at Wanping Theater in a form on a document for leading latecomers into the theater, saying, "He half-knelt on the ground and lit up the aisle, making it easier to find seats and pass through, and not affecting people next to him. He was very considerate." Others were surprised by Caoyang Cinema, saying, "I thought that community theaters would have a lot of elderly audiences, which would make viewing order worse, but I didn't expect the audiences to be very professional and the atmosphere was particularly good."

The warmth of the cinema is a good tradition of the Shanghai Film Festival. Every year, from the time of ticket sales, in order to facilitate the elderly who cannot use smartphones, the staff of major cinemas in Shanghai have arranged staff offline to buy tickets for the elderly. The newly renovated Cathay Cinema welcomes the fans with a new image this year. Knowing that this cinema has many elderly fans, the cinema also provides hot water, medical first aid kits, blankets, luggage storage, wheelchairs and other services.

This year, there are many things that can "delay" watching movies. The Shanghai Film Festival Organizing Committee has coordinated with some theaters in the city and combined with scenic spots along the route to plan a "Movies-Driven" city walking route. While rushing to the movies, movie fans can slow down and appreciate Shanghai, which has become a unique way to open the Shanghai Film Festival.

Cinema Walk Theme Route↓↓

Online participation, expansion of scenes, and extension of scope have increased the influence of the Shanghai International Film Festival exponentially.

The Future Cinema Unit held at PUSH Art Center, Pudong District, brought together the world's top head-mounted display hardware suppliers to bring 26 immersive experience masterpieces from home and abroad to the citizens. 19 screenings of 5 international premieres, 5 Asian premieres, and 6 Chinese premieres attracted more than a thousand citizens to experience it, and the number of "want to watch" attention on the reservation platform exceeded 10,000.

As one of the series of activities of the "Belt and Road" Film Week, the Latin American Carnival was launched in Bicester Village. In addition to presenting wonderful Latin American cultural performances, it attracted more than 7,000 tourists in four days.

Huangpu Culture and Tourism Group convened four cinemas in the district, namely Daguangming, Heping, Guotai and Huangpu Theater, and two major business districts, Nanjing Road and Huaihai Road, to launch a discount activity for ticket holders, etc., to attract more consumers to participate in the film festival and surrounding commercial activities, and promote a virtuous cycle of cultural and commercial interaction...

The Shanghai International Film Festival brings together the forces of culture, commerce and tourism, creates a new scene for cultural and tourism consumption through film-watching, and brings new consumption vitality to this open-minded city.

"Building a film city does not mean just making good films, but presenting everything related to films in this city," Shadan said. "Shanghai is building the film festival as a cultural business card. Almost any important public facility can show exhibitions related to the film festival. These days, wherever you go, even if you are not a movie fan, you will feel that Shanghai belongs to movies during this period. Movies are the very important protagonists in our city at this moment."

"Movie City" is more than just a slogan

In Shanghai, an important international cultural exchange platform, Chinese and foreign filmmakers have gathered over the past 10 days to discuss the common issues facing the world in terms of film.

According to statistics, a total of 5,288 guests from home and abroad from more than 60 countries and regions gathered this year. Four famous artists, Chen Yingxiong, Iwai Shunji, Bill Nichols, and Zhao Deyin, were guests at the Film Academy to share their creative experiences and talk about their feelings about movies. Guests such as Jia Zhangke and Zhi Fina all frankly called for more refined and personalized film distribution; AI-related topics appeared in almost every discussion related to movies. Filmmakers such as Huang Jianxin, Dong Runnian, and Wang Hongwei talked about "new visions of science fiction and new quality productivity" while also remaining sober and cautious about new technologies; Er Dongsheng, like an old father with his children, enthusiastically recommended Hong Kong's new generation of film actors to mainland friends; the "Belt and Road Film Alliance" has expanded from 31 film institutions in the first 29 countries to 55 institutions in 48 countries. This year's film festival with the theme of "The Road of Courage" selected 18 films for 65 screenings in Shanghai. In addition to Shanghai, the radiation radius has expanded to six cities in the Yangtze River Delta, including Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, and Hefei...

Chen Yingxiong

Director Shunji Iwai

"Going overseas" has become a topic of the Golden Goblet Forum at this year's Shanghai Film Festival. While filmmakers are trying every means to find channels and mechanisms to expand into the international market, they are also facing this hot topic with a calm attitude.

In addition to the film itself, the global development of Chinese IP has also gradually grown in scale amid various challenges. The news that Zhang Yimou is about to direct the film "The Three-Body Problem" was disclosed by Wang Changtian, chairman of Enlight Media, and immediately attracted a wave of attention from domestic and foreign media. Regarding the top IP "The Three-Body Problem" with a huge fan base around the world, the consensus reached by the guests at the special forum was: "Rooted in Chinese culture, tapping into spiritual consensus, and doing a good job of global expression."

Wang Changtian

In the film market, 137 film and television organizations from home and abroad appeared at the market exhibition, and international buyers and sellers gathered together. Overseas sellers who hope to bring excellent works from their own countries to the large Chinese market have returned to occupying a high proportion of market exhibitors. New and old friends came to Shanghai with the clear goals of making friends, communicating, and trading. A group of international distributors who came to China to find "good films" were particularly active in the market.

From the transaction side, we can sense that the overseas market's demand for Chinese films is changing: Southeast Asian buyers have shifted their preference for Chinese art films to showing greater interest in Chinese commercial blockbusters; Chinese films that "went overseas" in the past mainly targeted the local Chinese market, but now they are attracting more and more attention from local audiences; while the influence of film works continues to expand, the way Chinese films are promoted and marketed has also been imitated in various countries...

At this year's Shanghai Film Festival, a series of new policies, new projects, new plans, and new works were launched. From the new film crews that appeared one by one on the red carpet to the blockbuster releases of leading film companies, "Operation Jiaolong", "Reverse Life", "Decryption" and other masterpieces that focus on individual destiny, family and country feelings, humanistic care, and resonance of the times have announced to the audience the excitement that will be staged in the cinema.

Poster of "Reverse Life"

Adhering to the festival's positioning of "based in Asia, focusing on Chinese language, and supporting newcomers", the Shanghai International Film Festival has formed a "6+1" ladder-type newcomer training system that is constantly opened up and organically connected, and this year, this system has delivered new results.

This year's film project venture capital has four units: "Young Director Project", "International Cooperation Project", "Project in Creation" and "Project in Production". A total of 34 projects were shortlisted, of which 6 came from the venture capital training camp of the Shanghai Film Festival's "Youth Training Camp".

Since its establishment in 2007, Film Project Ventures has witnessed 98 projects entering production, of which 76 participated in major domestic and international film festivals, 57 were shortlisted for Class A international film festivals, 38 returned to the Shanghai International Film Festival to participate in the competition, and 68 films were released in domestic and foreign theaters.

The best film in the Asian Newcomer unit, "This Friday's Playground", is a shortlisted project for the 2023 Innovation Awards; recent Innovation Awards shortlisted projects "Dad's Dad is Called Grandpa" and "Inside Sand" also made their world premiere in the "Chinese New Style" unit of this year's film festival.

"This Friday at the Playground" won the Best Film at this year's Asian Newcomer Awards.

The Shanghai International Film Festival has extended the cycle of talent training and work incubation. Through regular support and training throughout the entire growth cycle, it has helped creators develop while also continuously optimizing its own talent training system. High-quality, diverse and rich projects have also attracted the enthusiastic participation of nearly 200 domestic and foreign producers, investors and distributors.

From obscurity to intensive cultivation, the 20-year-old Asian New Directors Unit has been constantly discovering new film directors from China and other Asian countries and regions, supporting new forces in Asian films, and has now become an indispensable platform for the emergence of new talents and new works in the Asian film industry. This year's jury chairman Cao Baoping said that he would "look at a broader Asian perspective", which undoubtedly puts forward higher expectations for Asian New Directors.

At the Shanghai Film Festival, filmmakers did not shy away from the difficulties encountered by the current industry. Whether it was the Golden Goblet, Asian New Film, or the screening unit, it was not difficult to find in the post-screening exchanges that the new works of directors were almost all "N years of hard work" after a long wait. Although the projects at the new film press conference were still heavyweight, the number had been visibly reduced. At forums on various topics, whether it was line distribution or the changes brought about by technology, filmmakers realized a problem: everyone needed to unite and use all means to bring audiences back to the cinema.

"We found that the Shanghai International Film Festival has actually given us a good inspiration, that is, when your films are rich enough and when the film-related space is attractive enough, for example, if you make the film industry a fashionable 'check-in place', young people will have a desire to share and will take their own initiative to go back to the cinema."

As a professional film practitioner, Shadan talked about the gains from this visit to the Shanghai International Film Festival, "We need to protect our cinemas. From a certain perspective, we need to make more complex developments in the space based on the film itself, turning the conventional cinemas of the past into more complex film activity spaces. These are all inspiring for the entire film industry and the future of film development."

The accumulation of history and the nurturing of the times have fostered Shanghai’s urban spirit of “embracing all rivers, pursuing excellence, being open-minded and wise, and being generous and humble”. The urban character of “openness, innovation, and inclusiveness” has forged the Shanghai International Film Festival’s consistent pursuit of professionalism in organizing the festival.

Whether it is the "Three-Year Plan for High-Quality Development" released by the Shanghai Film Bureau, which shows Shanghai's ambition to rekindle the glory of the film industry, or the Shanghai Film Art Center's opening up of a new imagination space for the future, or the enthusiasm of movie fans to take the initiative to participate and even "defend" the Shanghai Film Festival, Shadan believes that the "City of Film" vigorously promoted by Shanghai this year is "not just a simple slogan."

The cinema run is about to end, but the long tail effect continues.

The "Dream-making Live" film art exhibition opened during the film festival displays 7 major theme units, more than 30 top domestic and foreign film IPs, handwritten manuscripts of many world film history celebrities revealed for the first time, and other behind-the-scenes treasures, constantly exploring different on-site presentation forms of film art. The exhibition will last until September 17.

The Zhangyuan & Maoming North Road Times Light and Shadow Art Exhibition, which is seamlessly connected with this year's film festival, will screen two films from the "City Light and Shadow: Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Founding of New China and the 75th Anniversary of the Liberation of Shanghai" screening unit outdoors, "The Eternal Waves" and "Legend of the Sea". This area, which combines outstanding historical architectural complexes and urban renewal business districts, will continue to use movies to tell the wonderful stories of Shanghai.