Shanghai International Film Festival, Shanghai TV Festival ready to offer a variety of programs

The upcoming 27th Shanghai International Film Festival and the 30th Shanghai TV Festival announced the full jury lists for SIFF's Golden Goblet Awards and STVF's Magnolia Awards on Tuesday (May 20), when official posters for both festivals were also released.

The 27th SIFF will run from June 13 to 22. It will be followed by the STVF from June 23 to 27.

This year's SIFF coincides with the 130th anniversary of world cinema and the 120th anniversary of Chinese cinema, while STVF marks its 30th edition. These two cultural landmarks of Shanghai are embarking on a new journey of cinematic and televisual excellence.

Echoing this historic year for cinema, the opening session of the 27th SIFF will celebrate the achievements of Chinese cinema across its 120-year history and inspire filmmakers to make more wonderful works in the new era.

Film Panorama will initiate a special section titled "Resonance: A Brief Encounter of Chinese and World Cinema," curating iconic films from around the world to create a dialogue across cinematic history and highlight the mutual learning and growth between Chinese and international cinema.

Building on the success of the Belt and Road Film Festival Alliance initiated by SIFF, the Belt and Road Film Week this year will host a series of events, including the Culture Forum, Industry Forum, Southeast Asia Bazaar, and Charm Pudong Gala Night during SIFF. The curated film screenings will extend across the Yangtze River Delta region, with Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, and Hefei joining Shanghai to showcase selected works recommended by Alliance members.

The year 2025 also marks significant diplomatic milestones – the 50th anniversary of China-European Union relations, 55 years of China-Italy ties, and 50 years of China-Thailand relations. The festival will bring increased engagement from European and Southeast Asian film companies through exhibitions, screenings, networking and co-productions.

Renown Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore will chair the Jury for the Golden Goblet Awards' main competition, and headline SIFF's flagship "SIFF MasterClass" series.

Film Panorama will also present a special "Italian Film Week," featuring over 20 Italian cinematic masterpieces across nearly 100 screenings, from neorealist masterpieces like "Rome, Open City" to works as odes to cinema and various eras such as "Cinema Paradiso". This diverse lineup traverses half a century of film history, encompassing varied genres and themes, with each film delivering unique emotional depth.

Having chronicled three decades of China's radio and television development, the opening session of STVF will examine the dynamic interplay between the growth of the festival's Magnolia Awards and industry progress, the awards' expanding footprint in global communication landscapes, and strategic pathways for future audiovisual innovation and premium content development.

During STVF, the new Magnolia Global Promotion Initiative will harness the festival's established international prestige to cultivate its worldwide partnership network.

Conceived in China and named after Shanghai, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is ushering in the "Year of China" this year. And this edition's Magnolia Awards International TV Showcase will present six curated productions from SCO nations, featuring foreign dramas, animation features, and documentary films.

As China's sole international competitive feature film festival and China's first international television festival, SIFF and STVF have always drawn global attention to the selection processes of the Golden Goblet Awards and Magnolia Awards.

The 27th SIFF's Golden Goblet Awards have received a record-breaking 3,900-plus film submissions from 119 countries and regions across five competition categories. These include over 2,800 competition entries, with significant growth in submissions from the Americas and Africa; and an 18 percent year-on-year increase in short film submissions. Among the competing film entries, there are over 1,820 world premieres and 520-plus international premieres.

The 30th STVF Magnolia Awards cover four major categories in five competition sections, namely TV dramas (Chinese and foreign), documentaries, animation, and variety programs, attracting nearly 1,000 entries from 43 countries and regions across five continents.

Notably, documentary submissions increased by approximately 10 percent, marking the most significant growth. In both the animation and documentary categories, where Chinese and international works compete together, the proportion of overseas entries has been rising steadily. Leading global television institutions such as the BBC, Sony, HBO, Warner, and Disney have all submitted high-quality programs for selection. Geographically, the awards have expanded their reach with first-ever submissions from countries including Chile, Denmark, and Iceland.

For this year's Golden Goblet Awards, the jury comprises 21 distinguished members from 13 countries and regions across Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Europe. The jury of this edition demonstrates remarkable youthfulness, particularly in the Asian New Talent section. The jury panel spans generations from post-80s to post-90s and even post-00s, with an average age of 35, making it the youngest jury in the history of SIFF.

The awards ceremony for Asian New Talent will be incorporated into the Golden Goblet Awards ceremony on the closing day. This marks the first time in its 21-year history that Asian New Talent has been officially combined with the Golden Goblet Awards.

The Magnolia Awards jury for this edition of STVF consists of 15 distinguished members from seven countries and regions – the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, the United States, and Japan.

The jury of the Chinese TV Dramas unit boasts a multigenerational lineup of industry leaders, nearly all of whom are past Magnolia Awards winners themselves, while the jury panels of other competition units include both previous Magnolia laureates in their respective fields and celebrated creators whose works have been screened in past International TV Showcase sessions. Notably, the Foreign TV Drama unit welcomes its jury member from Hong Kong for the first time.

This year, SIFF MARKET and STVF MARKET will also be integrated into the "International Film and TV Market," to be hosted at the Shanghai Exhibition Center across a 5-day period that overlaps with both festivals.

The market segment will debut an "International Zone," dedicated to showcasing the cultural diversity and industry achievements of various countries, creating new opportunities for global collaboration and exchange in the film and TV industries.

SIFF's film screening schedule will be announced on June 3, with ticket sales starting at 12pm on June 5 on platforms Damai and Taopiaopiao. The opening film, "She's Got No Name," directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Peter Chan, will have a special citywide screening after the film festival's opening ceremony on the evening of June 14 at over 100 cinemas across Shanghai.

STVF's Magnolia Awards Ceremony will be unveiled on June 27 at the Lingang Performing Arts Center. During STVF, the international TV Showcase will present award-winning and new premium TV works from China and abroad, broadcast via channels such as Dragon TV.

This year, the festival will once again join hands with the BBC to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth by screening three BBC productions related to the author's work. Offline public screening will also be hosted, highlighting excellent documentaries about renowned international architects and archeologists like Laszlo Hudec, who has special ties to Shanghai.

Jury List for the 27th SIFF's Golden Goblet Awards

Main Competition

Jury President: Giuseppe Tornatore, Director, Scriptwriter｜Italy

Jury Members: Iván Fund, Director, Scriptwriter | Argentina; Huang Bo, Actor, Director | China; Thanassis Karathanos, Producer｜Greece; Kiran Rao, Director, Producer, Writer | India; Yang Lina, Director, Screenwriter, Documentary Filmmaker | China; Yong Mei, Actress | China

Asian New Talent

Jury President: Sho Miyake, Director, Scriptwriter｜Japan

Jury Members: Dong Zijian, Director, Actor | China; Phạm Thiên Ân, Director, Scriptwriter｜Vietnam; Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, Director, Scriptwriter｜Thailand; Zhang Zifeng, Actress| China

Documentary

Jury President: Kim Longinotto, Director｜UK

Jury Members: Petra Costa, Director, Scriptwriter | Brazil; Yang Fudong, Director, Artist | China

Animation

Jury President: Nora Twomey, Director, Scriptwriter, Producer｜Ireland

Jury Members: Koji Yamamura, Director, Producer, Animator｜Japan; Zhao Ji, Director | China

Short Film

Jury President: Yang Chao, Director, Scriptwriter, Producer | China

Jury Members: Lise Fearnley, Producer｜Norway; Essam Zakarea, Film Critic, Scholar｜Egypt

Jury List for the 30th STVF's Magnolia Awards

TV Drama

Jury President: Chen Baoguo, Actor｜China

Jury Members:

Chinese TV Series: Gao Xuan, Scriptwriter｜China; Kang Honglei, Director, Scriptwriter｜China; Tong Yao, Actress｜China; Yin Hong, Critic Scholar｜China; Yu Xiaochen, Cinematographer, Director｜China; Zhang Ting, Scriptwriter, Director｜China

Foreign TV Series: Henk Handloegten, Writer, Director｜Germany; Wu Hang Yee, Actress｜Hong Kong, China

Documentary

Jury President: Sarah Peat, Producer｜UK

Jury Members: Zeng Hairuo, Director｜China, Takeuchi Ryo, Documentary Director｜Japan

Animation

Jury President: Rita Street, Animation Producer, Writer｜US

Jury Members: Alexis Ducord, Director, Storyboard Artist｜France, Li Jianping, Director, Scholar｜China