Shanghai film fest postponed to next year over pandemic

This year's Shanghai International Film Festival has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic resurgence.

The SIFF's organizing committee announced on Monday that the 25th edition of the festival, originally scheduled to be held this month, will be rescheduled to next year.

The organizers expressed their heartfelt thanks and sincere apologies to people from all walks of life who support the festival. If possible, they said, they will hold film exhibitions and themed events in the second half of this year to share the joy brought by cinematic art and film activities.

Last year's film festival screened 405 films from 62 countries and regions over 10 days, while guaranteeing strict COVID-19 prevention and control measures and a 75 percent cap on cinema hall occupancy. A total of 459 online and offline exhibitors from 45 countries and regions took part, with overseas exhibitors accounting for nearly 60 percent.

Despite the challenges brought by the pandemic, the selection of the festival's Golden Goblet Awards was still persuasive last year. The awards received 4,443 registered films from 113 countries and regions. Among the films screened, 73 were world premieres.

In the Film Panorama section, last year's festival offered a total of 1,423 screening sessions in 40 cinemas in Shanghai, with more than 320,000 moviegoers and 26 post-screening meetings.

Among the moviegoers, 72.3 percent were from Shanghai, but there were also a large number of film fans from Beijing, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing and other cities.