Shanghai unveils competition lineup

UK filmmaker Roland Joffe, Japanese filmmakers Sabu and Fumihiko Sori are among the filmmakers nominated for the Golden Goblet Award - SIFF’s main competition section.

Joffe, who is best known for the 1984 film The Killing Fields and Robert De Niro starring The Mission, is selected for the Golden Goblet Competition with There Be Dragons, about a journalist discovering a canonisation candidate’s unknown past during the Spanish Civil War.

Japanese filmmaker Sabu, formerly known as Hiroyuki Tanaka joins the competition with Bunny Drop, a drama between a mid-age man and a troubled 6 year-old girl that he accidentally meets. The film will have world premiere at SIFF.

Another Japanese filmmaker Fumihiko Sori is selected for the film Tomorrow’s Joe, a film adapted from the popular Japanese manga about two teenager rivals reunite in the boxing ring.

Also enjoying world premiere will be Italian filmmaker Lorenzo Ceva Valla’s debut feature film Ainom, about an African refugee escaping from one after another misery.

Entering its 14th year, SIFF’s Golden Goblet Award jury will be led by US filmmaker Barry Levinson while the Asian New Talent Award will have Japanese filmmaker Shunji Iwai serving as jury chairman.

SIFF organizer last month announced that the festival red carpet’s guest list would include Hollywood stars Susan Sarandon, Matt Dillon, Willem Dafoe and Marisa Tomei, while News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch and his wife Wendi Deng will attend the festival’s forum on film financing.

SIFF organizers also secured Swiss watch brand Jaeger LeCoultre as a main sponsor for the next three years. The watch maker will hold charity auctions during the festival period and will use the charity fund to sponsor SIFF’s project market China Film Pitch and Catch (CFPC) and Co-production Pitch and Catch (Co-FPC).

The 14th SIFF will be held June 11 to 19 in Shanghai.

SIFF Golden Goblet Competition
THE BONES TUNNEL by Nacho Garassino (Argentina) international premiere
AINOM by Lorenzo Ceva Valla (Italy) world premiere
HAYDE BRE by Orhan Oguz (Turkey) international premiere
BUNNY DROP by Hiroyuki Tanaka (Japan) world premiere
THE QUEST by Goutam Ghose (India/Bangladesh)
ALIVE AND TICKING by Andi Rogenhagen (Germany) international premiere
TOMORROW’S JOE by Fumihiko Sori (Japan)
HYDRAULICS by Yevgeni Serov (Russia) international premiere
THERE BE DRAGONS directed by Roland Joffe (US/Argentina/Spain)