Shanghai International Film Festival

[Lemmy Caution]

The 12th Shanghai International Film Festival is slated for 9 days in mid-June. It's back to being an annual festival, after some disorganization led to a few years being skipped (it started 16 years ago). I generally don't manage to see too much, as it's not well-publicized, some of the theaters are a fair distance from downtown, and less popular entries, especially the few films from Africa, tend to be shown only once or twice as mid-week matinees.

However, I always hope it will be a good festival and that I can find some gems. The full slate of titles doesn't seem available yet, but here's the list of the competition films for the jury prize. As I mentioned in the Slumdog thread, Danny Boyle is chairing the jury. The only director in competition that I'm familiar with is Techine. Any info and/or recs on any of these films or directors would be appreciated.

THE 12TH SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL JIN JUE COMPETITION FILMS

Giulio Manfredonia
WE CAN DO THAT
Italy

Emmanuel Finkiel
NOWHERE PROMISED LAND
France

Nils Malmros
ACHING HEARTS
Denmark

Antonio Tublén & Alexander Brøndsted
ORIGINAL
Denmark/Sweden

Christoph Röhl
A PIECE OF ME
Germany

Christos Georgiou
SMALL CRIME
Germany/Cyprus/Greece

Guel Arraes
ROMANCE
Brazil

Jang Hun
ROUGH CUT
Korea

Maciej Pieprzyca
SPLINTERS
Poland

Krisztina Goda
CHAMELEON
Hungary

Dodo Fiori
SCHEMES OF AFFECTION
Italy

Julius Sevcik
NORMAL
Czech

Wanma Caidan
THE SEARCH
China

Pål Jackman
THE STORM IN MY HEART
Norway

André Téchiné
THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN
France

Yao Shuhua
EMPIRE OF SILVER
China/HK,China/Taiwan,China *

* I like how they make sure to specify that Hong Kong and Taiwan are part of China.

The 16 competition films break down as:
2 films from: Italy, France, Denmark, China
1 each from: Germany, Norway, Czech, Hungary, Poland, Brasil, Cyprus, Korea
===============================================
Edit: Here's a link in case anyone has spare time and has checked out all the other websites on the internet:
http://www.siff.com/MovieEn/Default.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There's some good Chinglish all around, including:

During the past 5 years, SIFFORUM has invited big noses in the industry to deliver speeches, including Ang Lee, Luc Besson, Wang Kar Wai, Anthony Minghella ...

(fairly amusing, as "big nose" in reference to a Westerner is akin to calling an Asian "slant eyes")

[MichaelB]

I've seen and reviewed Krisztina Goda's first two films - this was her debut:

Just Sex and Nothing Else (Csak szex és más semi, d. Krisztina Goda, 2005) – from the meet-cute opening in which Dóra (Judit Schell) first encounters Tamás (Sándor Csányi) after she’s bustled almost naked out of her lover’s flat, to the final montage of outtakes, this is just as slick and polished a romantic comedy as any of its Hollywood or Richard Curtis-scripted counterparts: it’s no wonder that Goda was quickly snapped up to make the big-budget Children of Glory. It’s been called a Hungarian Bridget Jones’s Diary, which isn’t quite accurate, since the thirtysomething Dóra is more interested in babies than blokes – the title quotes the most enticing bit of the personal ad she ends up placing, which leads to the familiar parade of overly optimistic horrors. No prizes for guessing how it all turns out, but there’s plenty to enjoy along the way, from some genuinely smart dialogue (I’ve never heard avant-garde composer György Kurtág’s name invoked in a one-liner before) and appealing performances, including Zoltán Seress’ accident-prone musician Péter, Károly Gesztesi’s harassed director Paskó, and Antal Czapkó’s Borat-lookalike Turkish waiter Ali, possibly the film’s only genuine romantic. A huge domestic hit, it’s markedly better than the two Polish romantic comedies I’ve seen recently (The Extras and Midnight Talks).

...and her second feature:

Children of Glory (Szabadság, szerelem, d. Krisztina Goda, 2006) - a mammoth box-office hit in Hungary, where it seems to have been as cathartic as Katyń for some, this was the biggest and flashiest of a group of films made specifically for screening at the time of the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Loosely based on the story told by the documentary Freedom’s Fury [about the notorious "blood in the water" waterpolo clash between Hungary and the Soviet Union just after the 1956 revolution], it turns the material into a high-concept blockbuster by giving the waterpolo team’s star player a somewhat contrived romance with a fiery female student revolutionary and finds himself trapped in Budapest as the Soviet tanks roll in. These scenes, brilliantly staged by veteran stunt coordinator Vic Armstrong, are by far the film’s high point, though it’s also strangely fascinating seeing a Hungarian-language film made absolutely according to the Hollywood stylebook (the producer was Andrew G. Vajna of Rambo fame/notoriety, and the screenplay was adapted from a story by fellow expat Joe Eszterhas). Likeable performances from actors who previously gelled with director Krisztina Goda in her earlier hit Just Sex and Nothing Else also keep things ticking over nicely.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

I've only seen Rough Cut, which has been out on DVD for awhile. It exceeded my low expectations for anything connected with Kim Ki-duk (he wrote and co-produced it), but it's not a great or even particularly good film. It walks the arthouse/genre tightrope and doesn't quite hack it, especially in the opening scenes, which are just deadly (all antiseptic environments and oppressively empty sound design -- it does pick up later, though). It would've worked better with a more unapologetically pulpy director like, say, Ryu Seung-wan, or any number of Hong Kong filmmakers, but instead we get one of those "we're going to give you two hours of sensational violence and then make you feel bad for enjoying it" things. On the upside, the usual affected blankness of Kim's characters actually works in its favor, at least with So Ji-sub (whose unreadability provides about 99% of the suspense here).

[SalParadise]

Why bother? Mainland Chinese audiences are almost entirely uncivilized.
Only go if you are a masochist...

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Hmm, I go to about two screenings a month here in Qingdao and I've never had any deal-breaking issues with the audiences. The worst I've seen is a guy taking a (brief) call in the middle of a movie -- which has happened in the U.S. as well, so I can't say mainland moviegoers seem uniquely "uncivilized" in my experience. Maybe the Hangzhou audiences

[SalParadise]

Maybe. My opinion of Chinese has taken a serious dent due to living in China. Where to start... uh.

[Lemmy Caution]

Thanks MB. Appreciate the reviews.
I do recall hearing about Children of Glory, but didn't remember Krisztina Goda's name.
So Chameleon is a definite possibility.

I'm not much into 21st C Asian cinema and tend to avoid violent films as much as possible.
I'm more intrigued by Hungary. Czech, Poland, Denmark.
Fancy Norwegian, I didn't know you were in China.
I liked Qingdao a good deal, and really enjoyed my travels in Shandong.
I guess you get the Beer Festival!

Projection and sound quality have sometimes been disappointing, but I've never had any bad audience experiences in a Chinese movie theater.
Though I usually only go to the cinema in Hong Kong and during the film festival in Shanghai, which likely gets a somewhat more upscale crowd for the foreign films at a higher than usual price. One bonus is that a few directors and cast members attend selected screenings and give a brief talk and hold a Q&A after the film.

Sal, you should look through the offerings on the SIFF website and consider attending. I could even rec some very reasonable, well-situated hotels. China is not the easiest place to adapt to. Good luck.

[Lemmy Caution]

The 2013 Shanghai Film Festival starts tomorrow/Saturday June 15.
Unfortunately the website is often poorly organized and full of Chinglish. I searched and searched all through it -- in English and Chinese -- and couldn't find the screening schedule anywhere.
Finally via the magic of google I was able to find the screening schedule link, but no idea how to access the schedule from anywhere on their website. Which I assume means most people won't find the schedule. Maybe I missed something, or need to try a different browser, but I doubt many will put in the effort I did to find the screening schedule. I was about to call the SIFF when I found the link via Google. *sigh*

Anyway, the SIFF includes a program of silent Hitchcock films.
Plus a small Ozu retrospective -- but the only one I haven't seen is Green Tea Over Rice. Rounding out their Tribute to the Masters Series is... an Oliver Stone retrospective. He was one of the first celebrities, along with Sophia Loren, at one of the early SIFF's 20 years nearly 20 years ago.

There's also a "100 Years of Indian Cinema" sidebar.

3 IDIOTS （India） Director: Rajkumar·Hirani
AWAARA （India） Director: Raj·Kapoor
DIL CHAHTA HAI （India） Director: Farhan·Akhtar
LAGAAN （India） Director: Ashutosh·Gowariker
LESSONS IN FORGETTING （India） Director: Unni·Vijayan
OYE LUCKY! LUCKY OYE! （India） Director: Dibakar·Banerjee
PUSHPAK （India） Director: Singeetham·Srinivasa Rao
RAJA HARISHCHANDRA （India） Director: Dadasaheb·Phalke
RANJANA AMI AR ASHBONA （India） Director: Anjan·Dutt
RUNNING WITH THE BULLS （India） Director: Zoya·Akhtar
WAKE UP SID （India） Director: Ayan·Mukerji

I've seen is Awaara, and have heard of Lagaan, but otherwise out to sea. Any recs among those?

Otherwise:

The new Hollywood summer blockbuster Superman: Man of Steel will have its premiere during Shanghai International Film Festival on June 19. The film's leading star Henry Cavill and director Zack Snyder will attend the premiere and meet audience members in Shanghai.

Not clear if that's the world premiere -- usually they trumpet Asian premiere or world premiere -- but I'm guessing it is(?) In any case, Superman will open in Shanghai the following day, June 20, and is likely to rake in many many taels of silver.

Here's the schedule link if anyone is interested.

This year's Competition Films at SIFF

Films for the Golden Goblet Award
A Gun & A Ring -- Lenin M. Sivam (Canada)
I Am You -- Petar Popzlatev (Bulgaria)
Joy -- Elias Giannakakis (Greece)
Maina -- Michel Paulette (Canada)
The Major -- Yury Bykov (Russia)
Reliance -- William Olsson (Sweden)
Mr. Morgan’s Last Love -- Sandra Nettelbeck (German / Belgium)
Taste Of Poetry -- Savaş Baykal (Turkey)
Unbeatable -- Dante Lam (China)
Under The Nagasaki Sky -- Taro Hyugaji (Japan)
Fists Of Legend -- Woo-Suk Kang (Korea)
Amazing -- Hu Xuehua (China)

Here's the link, just scroll down for the synopses for those films.
Nothing stood out to old Lemmy C. The Bulgarian film sounded mildly intriguing, but maybe just because the write-up was brief. Otherwise perhaps The Stolen Years (China) ...

I'll look through the secret schedule and hopefully find something to attend.

Edit: Now the Screening Schedule is one of the featured links on their website, but it certainly wasn't there Thursday and most of Friday just before the Saturday opening. Still unable to search for screening times/locations by film. Though you are able to search by theater and by date. Perhaps they are doing last minute work on the site. (It needs it)

[lady wakasa]

Thanks for posting, Lemmy. I'd like to get back to visiting film festivals, if Real Life ever stops throwing all sorts of curve balls.

The silent Hitchcocks are on a general roadshow; I guess this means it's a worldwide general roadshow. Hopefully it also means DVDs / Blu-Rays on the horizons as well.

If you've got familiarity with Bollywood films, Lagaan is pretty accessible (from what I remember; it also explained cricket pretty well). I've seen personally more engaging Bollywood films, and in fact it would have been fun for them to book Krrish (or even Krrish 3, which is out this year) to coincide with the Superman flick. Well, they didn't. Just keep in mind Lagaan is four hours long.

I can't tell the rest of the Indian films, because there's a number I've seen that I don't know by name.

Not the world premiere of Man of Steel; it's been out a week or two here. I've heard mixed reviews about Man of Steel (Superman through a dark lens, with varying degrees of success). Given I'm still trying to get to Star Trek (and not doing so well), I got nothing here. If Russell Crowe is invading earth, I may never.

I've also heard that it's fairly common to add / remove scenes from Hollywood films for the Chinese market. It would be interesting to find out if Man of Steel is modified (and how).

I see Stoker is also playing. If you're a fan of Park Chung-wook, I'd say go for it (his first Hollywood film); if not, there are better examples of Park Chung-wook films. It's also semi-horror and the reviews I read indicated it was a love it / hate it kind of film. I personally liked it; definitely kept me guessing. But from what I remember, our tastes don't converge all that much. %^)

I am so behind with everything. Hopefully that is on the verge of changing - although given the past year, that may not be a good thing.