The Shanghai International Film Festival revealed dates and details Tuesday for its upcoming 25th edition, which will be the first version of event that’s easily accessible to the international film industry since the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020.
The 2023 edition of the Shanghai festival, which is widely considered China’s most prestigious cinema event, will run June 9-18, according to organizers. The festival’s main competition, which awards the event’s signature Golden Goblet prizes, will cover five main categories this year: a feature film competition, Asian newcomers, documentaries, animation and short films.
The 2022 Shanghai festival was canceled in the wake of the city’s month-long COVID-19 lockdown and the government’s strict travel restrictions at the time. The previous two years the festival was held at or near its normal dates in the summertime, but the event became an almost entirely domestic Chinese affair, as flights in and out of China were hard to come by at the time, and all travelers had to endure lengthy hotel quarantines and regular COVID-19 testing at their own expense.
For 2023 edition, organizers said they have received nearly 8,800 film entries to chose from, spanning more than 128 countries and regions. Some 4,500 of the films were actually submitted for the canceled 2022 edition, but organizers said the submissions will continue to remain valid for this year’s festival, should the movies be selected and the filmmakers prefer to take part.
International film figures returning to Shanghai will notice some changes to the event, however. Back in January, organizers of the Shanghai International Film Market, which runs in tandem with the festival, announced it would be relocating to the Longemont Hotel, which sits less than a mile from the Crowne Plaza Hotel in west Shanghai where the film festival has been centered for many years. For the past few years, the market was held at a convention center in the center of the city. The new location will make it much easier to attendees to move back and forth from both components of the event.
The 25th Shanghai International Film Festival’s movie selection is expected to be unveiled in the weeks ahead.