Shanghai International Film Festival opens in grand style

Updated: Jun 17, 2019 By Zhang Kun in Shanghai chinadaily.com.cn Print

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The 22nd Shanghai International Film Festival celebrates its grand opening at Shanghai Grand Theatre on Saturday night. [Photo/Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The 22nd Shanghai International Film Festival celebrated its grand opening at Shanghai Grand Theatre on Saturday.

The only category A international film festival in China and one of the largest in Asia, the festival this year will last until June 24.

The cast and crew of *The Climbers*, a Chinese film to be released on Sept 30 in celebration of the 70th founding anniversary of the People’s Republic Of China, attend the opening ceremony. [Photo/Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Altogether 522 films will be shown in 47 cinemas all over the city during the 10-day festival. Tickets for some of the most anticipated films, such as Flowers of Shanghai by Hsiao-Hsien Hou, Tokyo Story by Yasujiro Ozu, both in 4K restoration, and Cinema Pardiso by Giuseppe Tornatore, sold out within minutes after the box office opened on Jun 8.

Turkish director and screenwriter Nuri Bilge Ceylan will chair the seven-member jury for the feature fiction film competition of the Golden Goblet Award. The jury for the documentary competition will be chaired by Russian director and screenwriter Viktor Kossakovsky, Irish director Tomm Moore will lead the competition of animation films, and American director Raul Garcia will be chairman of the competition of short films.