Europe wins Shanghai
- Little England, Begin Again and Diplomacy are amongst the winners
Europe was the big winner at the 17th Shanghai International Film Festival (14-22 June), with films from the continent winning a slew of awards. Pantelis Voulgaris’ Greek film Little England [+see also:
trailer
film profile] was the most awarded, picking up Best Director, Best Leading Actress for Pinelopi Tsilika, and the Golden Goblet for Best Film.
Volker Schlöndorff and Cyril Gely won Best Screenplay for the France-Germany co-production Diplomacy [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. Composer Gregg Alexander won Best Artistic Contribution for his work in Irish director John Carney’s music-themed US production Begin Again.
Vithaya Pansringarm won Best Actor for Tom Waller’s Thai film The Last Executioner. Meanwhile, Zheng Meng’s Chinese film Uncle Victory won the Grand Jury Prize.
Actress Gong Li chaired the international jury panel that also included British director Sally Potter, South Korean director Im Sang-soo, Japanese director Shunji Iwai, Iranian actor Payman Maadi, Danish director Lone Scherfig and Chinese filmmaker Liu Jie.
Filmmaker focuses this year included the works of French director Alain Resnais and Italian director Roberto Rossellini.
With the second-largest box office in the world, China is a market that all major film industries are trying to woo. In April, the UK and China signed a co-production treaty that allows films produced under its aegis to bypass China’s strict quota of 34 non-Chinese films that are allowed to release in the territory. And festivals like Shanghai provide an opportunity for filmmakers the world over to mix in an informal setting with Chinese officialdom.
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