CGTN | 04-Aug-2020
In March, the Cannes Film Festival announced it was forced to delay its annual event. In late July, the Hong Kong International Film Festival was cancelled. This year, many film festivals have been delayed or cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The same thing happened to the Shanghai International Film Festival. It initially said the event would be delayed in May. But two months after that, it’s now back. And it was only one month behind schedule. What’s behind Shanghai’s confidence in reopening the large-scale event during the pandemic?
This year’s festival has also seen a resurgence in filmmaking companies. Over 700 companies have also sent in applications to online exhibit at the Shanghai film festival. This number even exceeds the previous year.
The SIFF Project, a special program for new film talent and projects, was held as before. Filmmakers for 39 projects got the opportunity to pitch their ideas to investors and producers online. The Shanghai International Film Festival topped the trending topics on Chinese social media platform Weibo, after the announcement in late July. It seems the love of film has continued, even with the world being locked down for months.
The fight against the coronavirus has not ended yet, but as film director Olivier Assayas said during the Master Class, this is a special year for every filmmaker and the return of the Shanghai International Film Festival brings hope to the industry.
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