U.S. producer David Permut and Japanese director Naomi Kawase have joined the jury for the upcoming Shanghai International Film Festival. The jury is to be headed by Chinese director and actor Jiang Wen.
Others joining the jury, which decides the festival’s Golden Goblety (Jin Jue) Awards, include Hungarian director Ildiko Enyedi, Turkish director-producer Semih Kaplanoglu, mainland Chinese actress Qin Hailu and Taiwan actor Chang Chen, who was recently on the jury in Cannes.
The festival boasts other connections with Cannes too. The Cannes Film Market party was this year sponsored by SIFF. And Shanghai organizers claim to be stepping up co-operation with other major festivals around the world, led by Cannes.
The appointment of Jiang and the announcement of a “Sissi trilogy” to celebrate the 80th birthday of the late Romy Schneider, was announced in March. Others in the Classics section include 4K restored versions of several titles directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
In total some 500 films will unspool at the Shanghai festival. Its 21st edition this year, runs June 16-25.
As an actor, Jiang is renowned for his roles in “Hibiscus Town” (1986) and “Red Sorghum” (1987). Audiences around the world saw him in 2016’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” in which he played Baze Malbus. Jiang made his directorial debut in 1994 with “In the Heat of the Sun.” His second feature, “Devils on the Doorstep,” won the Grand Prix at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, but earned him a ban from directing in China for several years.
