SIFF & STVF Partners’ Night 2025 and Launch of 2025 Portuguese Film Festival

Fusion and vision. On the evening of December 26th, the SIFF & STVF Partners’ Night 2025 and the launch event for the Portuguese Film Festival were held in Shanghai. This marks the second consecutive year the Shanghai International Film & TV Festivals, Co., Ltd. has hosted the Partners’ Night and also the first film showcase from Portugal presented in Shanghai. Through the power of film and television, SIFF and STVF have built a platform for cross-sector collaboration, fostering exchange and mutual learning among world civilizations, and unveiling boundless excitement to all sectors of society.

Pan Min, Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of Shanghai Municipal Committee of CPC and Director of Shanghai Film Bureau, and Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of SIFF & STVF Organizing Committee, attended the event and delivered a speech. He stated that since their inception, SIFF and STVF have always resonated with the industry, continuously empowering Shanghai’s development as an international cultural metropolis and a “City of Film” and pioneering a distinctive Shanghai approach to cultural confidence and self-sustaining development. This year, the two festivals closely followed Shanghai’s strategic plan for “integrated development of culture, tourism, commerce, sports, and screenings”. Through deep collaboration with partners and the pan-city synergy of the “Ticket-Based Economics”, a new path of culturally driven high-quality development showcasing Shanghai’s distinctive characteristics and Eastern charm has taken shape. He expressed hope for continued joint efforts from all parties for resource sharing and mutual benefit, to scale new peaks of shared success and collectively compose a new chapter for SIFF and STVF.

   

   

   

The year 2025 coincides with the 130th anniversary of world cinema and the 120th anniversary of Chinese cinema, and is also a significant milestone for the Magnolia Awards “Thriving at Thirty”. Chen Guo, Director of Shanghai International Film & TV Festivals, Co., Ltd., reviewed the achievements of the 27th SIFF and the 30th STVF across multiple dimensions, including project submissions, screening scale, online buzz, social engagement, and international influence. Her presentation vividly demonstrated how these two Shanghai cultural “brands” continue to gain in prestige and value.

According to a comprehensive evaluation report for the 27th SIFF released by the third-party data firm Dataway, this year’s SIFF exhibited strong momentum in stimulating the economy, enhancing brand value, and fostering industry incubation. In terms of overall consumption impact, it generated a substantial RMB 4.997 billion in economic benefits for Shanghai. Notably, 29.2% of the audience traveled to the city specifically for the festival, staying an average of 6 days. Key audience metrics - engagement, awareness, satisfaction, loyalty, and recommendation - all surpassed the benchmark of 90%, creating a significant “cultural brand premium effect”. The festival has firmly established itself as a crucial platform for partner brands to connect with high-net-worth audiences and achieve cultural resonance alongside value upgrade.

For the upcoming 2026, Chen Guo noted that SIFF and STVF will further harness the power of film and television to craft a spectacular celebration of light and shadow, and they will deliver even more excitement and boundless possibilities to all sectors of society, while providing audiences with higher-quality, richer, and more accessible film and television cultural experiences.

2026 will also celebrate the 120th anniversary of the birth of Hollywood Golden Age master Billy Wilder and the 100th anniversary of legendary icon Marilyn Monroe. The 28th SIFF will present a special retrospective, “Wild Dreams: Billy Wilder & Marilyn Monroe”, paying the highest tribute to these two distinctly original and uniquely styled luminaries of world cinema.

In its commitment to classic film restoration and honoring screen legends, next year’s SIFF will collaborate with the Italian jeweler Bulgari to restore director Hark Tsui’s film PEKING OPERA BLUES, screening it in the “4K Restoration” section. This partnership aims to jointly contribute to the preservation and development of Chinese cinema and culture. A perfect fusion of action and comedy, this screening – nodding to the film’s 40th anniversary - will reintroduce audiences to the thematic depth and artistic vision Tsui Hark infused into this classic work.

As a special program of the year-round screening brand “SIFF SCREENING”, the Portuguese Film Festival - featuring eight treasured cinematic gems - was officially launched that evening. It is set to complete a relay of screenings from late 2025 into early 2026.

Liu Yina, Director of the Film Department of Shanghai Film Bureau, emphasized that this film festival is not only the first Portuguese film festival held in Shanghai but also the grand year-end finale of this year’s “Weekly Film Festival” series in the city. Over the past two years, Shanghai has hosted 50 regular film screenings, featuring classic works and latest productions from nearly 20 countries and regions and over 50 master filmmakers. These efforts consistently offer audiences a richer cinematic feast and cultivate a more vibrant urban film culture.

Thanks to this Portuguese film festival, José Martins, winner of the Best Actor award at the Golden Goblet Awards of the 27th SIFF, returned to the “City of Film”. In his view, this event is not just a celebration of Portuguese cinema but also a milestone reflecting the increasingly close film exchanges between China and Portugal, as well as a significant step in deepening the cultural ties between the two peoples.

The event also launched the “2026 Multiverse Micro-Drama Project” and the “AI Innovation Season Unit” section.

The 2026 International Film & TV Market × Tomato Novel “2026 Multiverse Micro-Drama Project" aims to foster a new content ecosystem. It encourages creators to produce micro-short dramas in various forms, delivering compelling content that transcends dimensions, and jointly pioneers a new paradigm for the next generation of IP incubation. This initiative guides the industry’s content evolution from “assembly-line production” toward “quality-driven craftsmanship”.

The “AI Innovation Season Unit” section aims to build a comprehensive platform that connects film and television creators, AI super-creators, enterprises across the AI visual industry chain, and industry capital. It will integrate on-site AI filmmaking, the release of AI visual standards, showcase of production technologies, and public engagement activities, demonstrating the limitless possibilities of technology-driven creativity. The Lin-gang Special Area will serve as the special supporting unit for this section, to jointly foster a new ecosystem for the film and television industry in the AI era.

The event was attended by over 200 guests, including representatives from the film and television industry, partners from various sectors, and media delegates. The attendees deepened their connections, discussed future partnerships, and expressed a shared anticipation for reuniting at next year’s dual festivals to jointly open a new chapter in their evolving story.