Chinese director Wang Quan’an and actress Zhang Jingchu will join American director Barry Levinson inside the main competitors jury for subsequent month’s Shanghai International Film Festival, the organizer has announced.
Wang Quan’an won the top Golden Bear award at the 2007 Berlin International Film Festival for his drama, “Tuya’s Marriage”, and in the 2010 Berlin festival a Silver Bear for finest script, for “Apart Together”.
Zhang Jingchu has starred in “Rush Hour 3″, too as such critically acclaimed domestic films as “Peacock” and “The Road”. The latter won her a greatest actress award at the 2006 Cairo International Film Festival.
Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson will lead the jury to choose winners for the Golden Goblet awards.
Other jury members are: UK screenwriter Christopher Hampton, Japanese director Yoichi Sai, Vietnam-born French director Tran Anh Hung, and Spanish actress Paz Vega.
Around 16 films will compete for the Golden Goblet. Among the currentlybasic manager stated on Thursday.
Levinson, a 69-year-old American director, writer and producer, won the 1988 Academy Award for Greatest Director for his comedy-drama “Rain Man,” which starred Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise. His other noted works consist of “Good Morning Vietnam” (1987), “Bugsy” (1991) and “Sleepers” (1996).
Other jury members will include UK screenwriter Christopher Hampton, Japanese director Yoichi Sai, Vietnam-born French director Tran Anh Hung, Spanish actress Paz Vega, Chinese director Wang Quan’an and Chinese actress Zhang Jingchu.
As of April 15, a total of 1,519 films from 102 countries and regions have applied to compete for the festival’s top prize, the Golden Goblet, SIFF general manager Tang Lijun said at a press conference on Thursday. Tang added that the number of candidates has “increased greatly” in comparison to earlier festivals.
As outlined by a statement published on the SIFF’s official web site, the initial batch of films selected for the competitors consists of films from Argentina, Italy, Japan, Germany, Turkey and Russia.
Among the competitors is the function film “There Be Dragons” by British director Roland Joffe, a Palme d’Or award-winner for his 1986 film “The Mission.”
Furthermore to forum discussions on topics for example film sector trends and international cooperative projects, this year’s festival will also contain a retrospective honoring the late Polish writer-director Krzysztof Kieslowski.
Many of Kieslowski’s works will be screened in the festival, with a few of them appearing for the first time on the Chinese mainland. These functions will include “The Double Life of Veronique,” “A Brief Film About Love” as well as the well-liked “Three Colors” trilogy (“Red,” “White” and “Blue”).
Additionally, Japanese filmmaker Shunji Iwai, whose acclaimed functions contain “Love Letter” (1995) and “All About Lily Chou-Chou” (2001), will lead the jury for the Asian New Talent Award, one more best prize awarded at the festival, Tang said.
Winners with the Asian New Talent “Best Director” and “Best Picture” awards, that are intended to encourage innovation in the Asian film sector and promote Asian films to the rest of the globe, will every single receive a cash prize of 300,000 yuan (46,153 U.S. dollars), Tang said.
The festival, which has been held annually since 1993, will run from June 11 to 19 this year.