On the afternoon of June 24, the opening ceremony of the 29th Shanghai TV Festival "Magnolia Fragrance" Shanghai TV Festival Program Show was held at the China Art Palace. This year, the "Magnolia Fragrance" Shanghai TV Festival Program Show, through TV channel show, Internet show and offline benefit screening, has screened more than 50 excellent works from home and abroad, and continued to create a TV festival "at home".

The "Fragrant Magnolia" exhibition and broadcast event is guided by the State Administration of Radio and Television and Shanghai Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau, hosted by Shanghai TV Festival, Shanghai People's Art Museum, and Shanghai Television Artists Association, co-organized by the Lingang New Area Management Committee of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, and undertaken by the China Art Museum and Shanghai Oriental Pearl International Exchange Co., Ltd.

Continue to create a TV festival at your doorstep

You Haiyang, Second-level Inspector of the Shanghai Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau and Director of the Radio, Television and Online Audiovisual Program Management Office, said in his speech that this year's "Magnolia Fragrance" Shanghai TV Festival program broadcast, through TV channel broadcasts, Internet broadcasts and offline benefit screenings, will implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important concept of "the people's city is for the people", strengthen exchanges and cooperation with international counterparts, provide audiences with the opportunity to enjoy world-class film and television masterpieces at their doorstep, highlight the people-oriented effect of the Shanghai TV Festival, and let the positive energy of film and television nourish people's hearts and inspire them to move forward.

"In 2024, the 'Magnolia Fragrance' Shanghai TV Festival program show will cooperate with 6 professional channels of Shanghai Radio and Television Station to show a number of excellent TV works from all over the world during the TV festival, including the latest overseas TV series, documentaries and cartoons. In order to expand the audience circle, the show channel has also been expanded to the Internet to create an all-media display platform for excellent programs. This year's offline benefit screening activities have been completely renewed. The Shanghai TV Festival, Shanghai Art Center and Shanghai Television Artists Association have joined hands to make full use of their respective unique resource advantages to further create a TV festival at home."

Since its inception in 1986, the Shanghai TV Festival has always adhered to the theme of professionalism, internationality and benefiting the people, and has gradually grown into one of the most important international television exchange platforms in Asia. During the annual TV festival, excellent programs from all over the world are presented to the TV audience through TV screens. Since 2018, the "Magnolia Fragrance" Shanghai TV Festival program exhibition has expanded from local TV channels to the Internet, and at the same time entered the cultural venues in the center of Shanghai for benefit screening, which has been warmly welcomed by the general public.

This year, in order to further expand the influence of the "Fragrant White Magnolia" Shanghai TV Festival program broadcast, with the support of the Shanghai Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau, the "Fragrant White Magnolia" offline benefit screening event has expanded from 18 venues in 16 districts last year to 20 cultural venues covering the entire city of Shanghai.

BBC's high-quality works attract overseas audiences

In terms of the selection of content for the benefit of the people, the Shanghai TV Festival has carefully designed eight sections, including Enjoying Childhood, Trendy Chinese Comics, Life Force, Charm of Competition, and Colorful World. In the "Endless Exploration" section jointly created by the Shanghai TV Festival and BBC Studios, the documentary "Planet Earth III", which took five years to shoot and explores magical species, became the opening film of the "Magnolia Fragrance" Shanghai TV Festival program show. The film was also nominated for the "Best Documentary Series" of the Magnolia Award of this TV Festival.

At the opening ceremony of the exhibition, Michael Gunton, chief producer of Planet Earth III and creative director of BBC Studios' documentary and natural history department, introduced: "This is a documentary about the sacred nature and the different behaviors of animals, and also about the relationship between man and nature. It captures many behavioral changes of animals, all of which occur naturally. We captured these shark clusters in South Africa. They are usually stationary, but we captured a large-scale gathering once, which is a very rare scene."

During the filming of the "Planet Earth" series, the crew used drones to shoot. "It is very difficult to capture animals chasing and attacking each other underwater, or even to shoot from the animals' perspective. Now with the help of drones, we can capture every movement and behavior of sharks." The use of traditional cameras underwater is also crucial. "We have two photographers shooting back to back, and at the same time forming a mutual protection mechanism, because capturing the movements of sharks and seals is very difficult and dangerous." Michael Gunton said.

The screening for the benefit of the people not only attracted a large number of Shanghai citizens to make reservations, but also audiences from other places came to "come here because of its reputation". Mr. Ji, who came to Shanghai from other places, made an online reservation for the screening of "Planet Earth III" at the China Art Museum because he was very interested in documentaries about nature. "Shanghai is an international metropolis, and it is a symbol of the city's cultural influence to invite excellent works and creators from all over the world." Mr. Ji said with anticipation, "I hope that the Shanghai TV Festival will introduce more excellent documentaries in the future and invite more creative teams to tell us the behind-the-scenes stories of the filming."

Wang Jianjun, Chairman of the Shanghai Television Artists Association and Vice Chairman of the China Radio and Television Federation, You Haiyang, Second-level Inspector of the Shanghai Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau and Director of the Radio, Television and Network Audiovisual Program Management Office, Wang Yichuan, Party Secretary and Executive Director of the China Art Museum (Shanghai Art Museum), Cao Yin, Deputy Director of the Shanghai International Film and Television Festival Center, Xu Hao, Deputy Director of the Shanghai People's Art Museum, Liang Junxia, Resident Vice Chairman and Secretary General of the Shanghai Television Artists Association, Wang Jian, Vice President of Shanghai Oriental Pearl International Exchange Co., Ltd., and Michael Gunton, Executive Producer of the opening film "Planet Earth III" and Creative Director of the Documentary and Natural History Department of BBC Studios attended the opening ceremony.