Movie fans snap up tickets for 27th Shanghai International Film Festival

Tickets for the 27th Shanghai International Film Festival's eye-catching Film Panorama were snapped up by enthusiastic movie buffs on ticketing platforms Damai and Taopiaopiao as they went on sale from 12pm on Thursday (June 5).

During the film festival, running from June 13 to 22, a total of 48 cinemas in Shanghai and other cities in the Yangtze River Delta region will offer around 1,500 screenings of over 400 movies from 71 countries and regions. About 30 percent of the films will be exhibited in 4K version.

In addition to classic films by film masters, the festival will also display recent productions from all over the world.

Statistics from the festival's organizing committee show that around 370,000 movie tickets were sold within the first hour. Tickets for more than 600 screenings of 92 movies were sold out within the first hour.

Popular screenings included Golden Goblet Awards Main Competition official selection, "Eraserhead," "The Brutalist," "Cinema Paradiso," and "One Wacky Summer." Other films in big demand were "A Pale View of Hills," "Hereditary," and "Seven Samurai."

Users from all over the country purchased the film festival tickets on the Internet. Cinemagoers aged between 18 to 34 years old took up a large proportion of over 70 percent.

Movie buff Wang Yun, a frequent attendee to the annual Film Panorama screenings, bought tickets for 15 film screenings, including "Barry Lyndon," "Steamboat Bill, Jr," "The Makioka Sisters," "Floating Clouds," "Vagabond," "The Soft Skin," and David Lynch's representative films.

Wang first attended the Film Panorama program in 2014. Every year during the film fest, he usually selects 15 movies to watch.

"The Shanghai International Film Festival always has a high taste for the selection of classic movies," he said. "It is wonderful to see works by such film masters as Buster Keaton and Agnès Varda."

Wang hopes that the festival will showcase more new Chinese films, even immature feature debuts of young directors, as well as film adaptations of traditional Chinese theatrical works.

"I am also looking forward to more exciting derivative activities for the public, such as appreciation sessions and film lectures," he added. "For movie fans, interesting film-related merchandise and creative cultural products are very attractive."

Professor Liu Haibo, a film expert at Shanghai University and president of the Shanghai Film Critics Society, said that the festival provides abundant high-quality films of diverse genres and styles. He is particularly interested in the festival's Golden Goblet Awards nominees and American filmmaker David Lynch's thrillers "Blue Velvet" and "Lost Highway."

"It is definitely a gala for movie fans as they have chance to watch so many works from both celebrated filmmakers and emerging directors in local theaters."

As this year also marks the 120th anniversary of Chinese cinema, Liu pointed out that the development of the film industry in China is facing new opportunities and challenges.

On the one hand, the hugely successful animation "Ne Zha 2" has achieved astonishing box office success, reaping more than 15.8 billion yuan (US$2.2 billion). On the other hand, the entire film industry has been severely impacted by short videos on streaming platforms.

"I hope that the Shanghai International Film Festival will help to explore a path of innovation for Chinese cinema," Liu added. "Let's think about where Chinese and even world cinema should go next, how to go, and how to deal with the challenges. High-quality content is always in demand while timely adjustments should also be made to cater to today's audience."